Exception
by HeavenRose
Summary: Pre-series. The boys have always vowed never to break a promise. But when one of them is in trouble, an exception may have to be made.
1. Chapter 1

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A/N: So... Before I get back to work on a larger project, I had this idea and I just had to write it before my head hurt any more from keeping the idea trapped inside my brain. I'm not sure how many chapters this story is going to be, but it won't be too many. NO SLASH! Just good ol' friendship :) And a little mystery that's going to shock you. Probably. I hope.  
Enjoy!

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**Exception**

Chapter 1

Logan had a bruise on his face. It hadn't been there yesterday.

"What'd you do?" Carlos asked him, chuckling.

A slight tinge of red crept into Logan's cheeks. He spoke quietly, avoiding eye contact with his friend. "I bumped it. It's fine."

The mark on Logan's cheekbone was reddish-purple and looked kind of painful. So, naturally, Carlos reached out to poke it.

Logan slapped his hand away. "Don't touch it," he grumbled, making a face.

Carlos laughed. "What'd you hit it on?"

The injured boy awkwardly scratched at his head and cleared his throat. "Um, you know. The… door."

Carlos's amusement vanished, and he narrowed his eyebrows. He didn't know much about anything - and had the report cards to prove it - but he did know when his friends lied to him. Carlos knew that lying to friends was the worse kind of lying anyone could possibly do, because best friends were supposed to be honest and tell each other the truth.

Well, Kendall had told him that. But it was a good philosophy, and Carlos liked to stick to it.

The twelve-year-old was about to ask Logan some more questions when the teacher strode into the classroom. Carlos sighed and took to his assigned seat directly behind Logan, who sat in the front row and as close to the teacher's desk as possible.

Carlos looked across the rows of students and saw Kendall in the far corner, placed there because when he sat next to one of his friends he got himself into mischief.

James sat in the back row, next to a girl named Jenny Tinkler. He was contemplating asking for a move, because only Jenny could make smoke come out of the top of her pencil when she erased something with too much vigor. And only Jenny could sneeze so hard that her pen could fly out of her hand and shoot like a spear into James's shoulder. And, of course, only Jenny could give James a high-five and somehow end up breaking his thumb.

The teacher began to take attendance and start the day. Carlos stared at the back of Logan's head, wondering who had given him the bruise this time. Carlos, as well as everybody in the entire school, knew that Logan had been bullied before.

It happened so often, in fact, that Carlos, Kendall and James didn't really see it as a big deal anymore. It was a regular occurrence that Logan usually dealt with himself. He didn't put up with kids taking advantage of him or kids pushing him around. Though it wasn't always like that.

Carlos recalled back to first grade and the first enemy Logan had ever made. Bobby Finton, a third grader, found enjoyment in threatening to beat up Logan unless Logan gave Bobby his lunch money. Of course, being an innocent six-year-old who didn't exactly realize the consequences of disobeying, Logan told the kid to get his own lunch money and to leave him alone. One black eye later, and Logan's friends had found out. Needless to say, a fight had transpired. Parents had been called, punishments had been fixed, and after that, whenever another bully made his way into Logan's life, Logan would retaliate by telling the principal. Problem solved. Kendall, James and Carlos no longer had to get involved and ultimately get themselves into trouble, and, most of the time, the aggressor got suspended.

It was a mystery to Carlos why Logan attracted so many bullies in the first place. Sure, Logan was a bookworm and got straight A's and let his mom pick out his clothes, but it wasn't like Logan was unpopular. He hung out with Carlos Garcia, the class clown, James Diamond, arguably the most handsome boy in school, and Kendall Knight, star hockey player. Logan himself was on the hockey team, and according to all the other twelve-year-olds, if you played a sport, you were automatically deemed 'cool'.

Carlos figured maybe it was because Logan was so small. Carlos himself wasn't the tallest kid around, but at least Carlos had some muscles. Looks were deceiving with Logan. He _was _strong - Carlos knew that for a fact from wrestling with Logan and playing hockey with him and climbing trees and stuff - but because of Logan's pale skin and limbs that resembled sticks, he appeared weak and vulnerable.

Whatever the reason, Carlos was just glad that Logan was standing up for himself.

Except this bruise was strange. There was no doubt in Carlos's mind that Logan was lying about bumping into a door. The way Logan said had said it, and the way Logan had looked when he said it, told Carlos all he needed to know. Something else had caused the bruise on Logan's face.

It was just puzzling, because normally Logan confessed to who was giving him a hard time when Carlos or Kendall or James asked him. And after school, the four boys would go to the principal's office where Logan would show off his injuries and explain what happened. Sometimes Kendall got a little angry and would end up trying to pick a fight with the bully after school, but Carlos and James usually managed to hold him back.

Carlos frowned, deep in thought. He hardly noticed when the teacher called his name until Logan turned around in his seat.

"Huh?" said Carlos, snapping up.

"Carlos?"

Carlos's eyes found the teacher. "Oh, sorry. I'm here."

She nodded and made a checkmark with her pencil, continuing to go down the list of students. As Logan gave Carlos a strange look before facing forward, Carlos was unable to tear his eyes away from the bruise.

Why would Logan lie about it?

Carlos decided he would ask Logan more about it in private.

"Okay, class, get out your textbooks and turn to page twenty-seven," said the teacher.

Carlos groaned. He hated learning.

* * *

"What is this stuff?" James asked, cautiously poking at his lunch with a plastic fork. The greenish-yellow slop made a sickly sucking noise as he pressed down on it with his eating utensil.

"I think mine moved," said Kendall.

Logan pushed his tray away, wrinkling his nose. "It smells like Carlos's shoes."

Carlos shrugged, mouth full of unidentifiable mush. He didn't think it tasted that bad. Could maybe use some salt.

Logan, Kendall and James grimaced as Carlos brought another forkful of whatever he was eating to his mouth. He didn't even need to chew, which was strange because the substance was viscous enough not to fall through the prongs of his fork.

Carlos sat with Kendall to his left and Logan and James across from them. A few other kids from the hockey team filled the rest of the seats at the lunch table. Carlos knew that some of those guys, especially the ones who acted like big, tough jocks, could be jerks at times. But he doubted any of them would pick on a fellow teammate like Logan.

Carlos swallowed what was in his mouth before looking up at Logan. He was curious what sort of answer Logan would give the guys. "Did you tell James and Kendall about the door?"

Logan looked confused for a moment.

"What door?" James said.

"Tell 'em, Logan," Carlos urged. He shoveled more goop into his mouth, though he stared at Logan intently.

Kendall squinted and leaned forward in his seat. "Oh, does this have anything to do with the bruise on your face?"

Logan nodded, shrinking back at the scrutiny. "Yeah. I hit it on a door."

"Liar!" Carlos cried, his lunch spewing out of his mouth.

Kendall and James give him the look they always gave Carlos when he did something random. Logan, on the other hand, wiped specks of green from his face. "Gross," he mumbled.

Carlos gulped before laughing nervously. "Uh, yeah, I mean, um…" He desperately fumbled for an excuse. He wanted to talk to Logan about this alone. Carlos had decided that his next period gym class with Logan was the best time to do so, because James and Kendall both had science class during that time. "You… told me you _bumped _it. Not _hit _it."

Kendall rolled his eyes.

Logan raised an eyebrow and spoke slowly. "It's… the same thing."

Carlos knew that look. It was Logan's 'I can't believe you're that stupid' look. It didn't really faze Carlos anymore, though. He was used to it.

"What, you don't believe me?" asked Logan.

Kendall and James whipped their heads around to Carlos expectantly.

Carlos didn't know how to answer. He didn't want to tell Logan the truth, but he also didn't want to lie. Forcing a goofy grin on his face, Carlos got to his feet. "I'll tell you what I do believe," he proclaimed, gesturing to the clock hanging above the cafeteria. "I believe it's time to go to gym!"

* * *

It was dodge ball day, and Carlos was excited. He waited impatiently in the hall outside the locker room as Logan was busy drinking from the water fountain.

"Hurry up," Carlos groaned, bouncing up and down. He loved dodge ball, and he was actually good at it. Plus, it was a relatively safe sport. The balls that were used were soft and didn't sting too bad when they came in contact with skin. Even so, Carlos still wore a helmet to gym class. He was always getting concussions, and they were no fun.

Logan took his time at the water fountain. He at last looked up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Finally!" Carlos exclaimed. "Let's go change!"

Logan smirked. Without a word, he bended down yet again and continued to drink.

Carlos huffed in frustration. "Come on, you're just doing this to bug me."

"Yep," Logan answered casually, slurping away.

The Latino stomped towards his friend. Logan always pushed his buttons. It got annoying sometimes. Especially when it was dodge ball day and Carlos could be warming up early.

"Let's go," he whined, grabbing hold of Logan's arm. Logan laughed as Carlos gave it a tug and began to drag Logan away from the fountain and down the hall.

Logan's mirth cut off abruptly. "Ow!" he hissed, twisting out of Carlos's grip. "Stop!"

Carlos whipped around, immediately concerned. "What?" he asked.

Logan cradled his right arm with his left, biting down on his lower lip. Carlos craned his neck, catching a glimpse of what Logan was obviously trying to hide. Several deep bruises dotted Logan's forearm, as well as a few scratches.

Carlos gasped, heart nearly leaping from his chest as concern and guilt pounded through him. "Logan, d-did I do t-that?" he stammered, brown eyes wide.

Logan shook his head. "No, don't be stupid," he muttered. "It's fine, really. Just hurts when someone touches it." He sighed, lowering his arm back to his side as the pain lessened. "Let's go."

He started forward for the locker room, but Carlos stepped in front of him. "Dude, what happened?"

Logan opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. "I-I, um…"

Carlos crossed his arms over his chest.

"The door. It knocked me down."

"You're a horrible liar."

"…Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too!" Carlos stomped his foot in exasperation. "I'm really bad at figuring things out, but I know you're lying." Carlos pointed to Logan's arm. "Who did that to you? Tell me so Kendall and James and I can go beat him up."

Logan offered a gentle smile and gave Carlos's shoulder a friendly pat before pushing past him to head towards the locker room. "I can handle it."

Carlos frowned. He rotated around, yanking open the door and hurrying after his friend. The foul smell of body odor hit his nose instantly, and Carlos momentarily felt lightheaded. However, he quickly shook it off, rushing towards Logan, who was already at his locker working the dial on the lock.

Carlos approached his own locker, which was two down from Logan's. "Why'd you lie?" Carlos asked.

Logan shrugged and said nothing. His lock clicked open, but he didn't grab his gym clothes.

Carlos opened his as well. He peeled off his shirt and tossed it carelessly inside the messy interior of his assigned storage space. "Seriously, dude."

The pale boy remained stationary. He hesitated before speaking. "I just… I can't tell you, is all."

When his gym shirt was on, Carlos responded. "How come?"

It wasn't surprising when Logan failed to give an answer.

Carlos sighed, undoing his belt and stuffing it into his locker. He glanced over at his friend as he wiggled out of his jeans. "Well, aren't you going to change?"

"Um…"

Carlos sighed a second time. Now what? Logan was suddenly shy about changing in the locker room?

"Turn around," said Logan.

"What?" Carlos asked incredulously. He didn't actually think he was correct in his assumption. He pulled up his gym shorts and reached back in his locker for a helmet.

"The faster you turn around, the faster we can go play dodge ball."

Carlos twirled around on his heel. With his back to Logan, Carlos fastened his helmet strap under his chin. "Done yet?"

"No." The rustling of fabric was heard as Logan presumably removed his shirt.

"How about now?"

"No, Carlos."

"Now?"

"What do you think?"

Carlos groaned, attention span dwindling. He absentmindedly began to drum his fingertips against the metal lockers. But that only lasted a few seconds before he was bored and began to rock back and fourth on his feet.

Carlos turned around. "Done _yet_?"

Logan let out a tiny yelp, holding his gym shirt up to cover his exposed torso.

The Latino narrowed his eyes, catching a glance at something dark on Logan's chest. "Hey, what was that?" He reached forward, trying to pull away Logan's shirt.

"No, stop it!" Logan cried, leaping backwards. "Don't! Turn around!"

Carlos's immediately withdrew his hand, surprised at how afraid Logan looked. "Logan, what's wrong?" Carlos asked quietly. His heart thudded faster with alarm.

Logan looked near-tears, and Carlos would have looped a comforting arm around Logan's shoulder if Logan didn't look so terrified all of a sudden.

"You…" Carlos started, holding up both hands to show that he wasn't going to touch Logan. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

He really, really hoped that Logan would say yes. But when Logan was slow to give a response, Carlos began to worry even more. Had he done something wrong? Had Carlos somehow given Logan the impression that he didn't care to help Logan with his problems?

"Logan…" murmured Carlos, feeling hurt.

Logan's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed, hard. He took a deep breath, then slowly lowered the shirt held up to his chest.

Carlos gaped at him. "Dude…"

Some were small, some were large. Some were fresh and purple, and some were old and yellowing. Either way, Carlos knew exactly what the glaring dots were that dappled Logan's skin.

"W-Who's doing this to you?" Carlos whispered, eyes widened in horror.

Logan averted his gaze to the floor, pulling the shirt over his head. Carlos finally blinked.

"Please don't tell anyone," Logan said, voice hoarse with emotion. "I'm taking care of it, I swear. Those bruises are… Those are old."

Carlos wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, but he knew better than to believe that. Though some people thought otherwise, Carlos wasn't _that_ clueless. "Logan, if you won't explain to me what's going on, then I'm telling Kendall and James. Maybe we can -"

"No!" Logan cried. "No, Carlos, you can't."

Carlos's heart rate was increasing more and more by the second. He had to tell _someone_. He couldn't help Logan on his own. And who was better to help than Kendall and James? Kendall always knew what to do. Surely Logan realized that by now.

Carlos closed his eyes and screamed. "KENDALL!"

Logan jumped about a foot in the air before his face reddened in anger and embarrassment. "Shh! What are you _doing_? Kendall's in class on the other side of the school, idiot!"

"I don't care!" Carlos exclaimed, nearly frantic. "Kendall always knows when something's wrong! If I scream his name he'll sense the brain waves I'm giving off and come over here! KENDALL!"

"You can't have brain waves if you don't have a brain!" Logan growled. He shot a glance at the locker room door. "Now shut up, you're going to get us in trouble!"

"KENDALL KENDALL KENDALL KENDALL KEN -"

Logan clapped a hand over Carlos's mouth. "Dude! Just listen to me, okay?"

The flash in Logan's eyes was frightening. Carlos nodded slowly, and Logan uncertainly removed his hand before continuing. "If you tell anyone about this, things are only going to get worse, understand?"

Worse?

"But I don't even know what's happening!" Carlos whined. The backs of his eyes began to sting from tears of worry. "All I know is that you're getting hurt. Why can't you just tell me what's going on? Don't you trust me?"

"No, no, of course I trust you," Logan insisted. He exhaled loudly and pinched the bridge of his nose, seeming flustered. "Just… Just trust _me _that Kendall and James cannot find out about this, alright? Nobody can find out." His tone turned stern. "Promise me, Carlos. Promise me you won't say anything."

Carlos was about to shake his head no, then stopped. What if things really did get worse for Logan if Carlos told Kendall and James?

"Carlos," Logan said again, looking him dead in the eye. "Promise."

Carlos nervously rung his hands together. He couldn't let Logan get hurt anymore. And if Logan honestly thought that if anyone found out about the cause of his mysterious injuries things would get worse, then Carlos couldn't risk it.

"Okay." He barely managed to croak the words out. "I promise."

"Good," Logan breathed. He turned back to his locker and finished getting dressed as Carlos stared into space, questioning whether or not he had done the right thing. "Let's go."

Carlos shuffled uneasily behind his friend as the two left the stuffy room and headed towards the gym. He didn't feel like playing dodge ball anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: My laptop crashed. This chapter was written on notebook paper, and then typed partly on my parent's computer, and then finished on my brother's laptop. Hopefully my laptop will be fixed soon so I can update faster. Sorry! I hope you like this chapter, anyway :)**

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Chapter 2

"Ooh, Carlos has a secret!" James teased, poking Carlos in the side.

Carlos yelped and clapped a hand over his mouth. He was ready to burst. It had been three hours since he had promised Logan not to say a word about the mysterious bruises - the longest Carlos had ever gone without telling a secret. Maybe that was why he was always the last amongst his friends to be notified of something meant to be kept private.

There must have been a certain way he moved, or a look on his face that tipped off the guys, because they always seemed to know when Carlos had something bottled up inside. And, unfortunately, they were experts at getting Carlos to spill the beans.

The school bus began to pull away from the curb, and Logan and Kendall turned around in their seats in front of James and Carlos.

Kendall smirked as he examined the boy with a hand over his mouth. "What is it?"

Logan shot Carlos a glare.

It took willpower Carlos didn't know he had to resist screaming out the truth. He could feel the words sitting on his tongue, ready to be verbalized. The pressure in his throat was begging to be released by speaking. He was _dying _to tell Kendall and James that Logan was getting beat up.

Two things kept Carlos from shouting out what he wanted to say. The first reason was that Logan had told Carlos things would get worse if anyone found out. That thought was frightening. Secondly, Carlos had made a promise. Everyone knew you couldn't break a promise.

James playfully nudged Carlos with his elbow. "Come on, Carlos. What's your secret?"

Carlos shook his head, keeping his eyes on the dirty bus floor. His palms began to sweat and his heart was about ready to leap out of his chest.

Carlos chanced a glance at Logan. He looked about as nervous as Carlos felt.

"What if we guess it?" said Kendall, obviously amused. "Did you see someone do something bad?"

Instinctively, Carlos removed his hand from his mouth and started to speak. He caught himself. Quickly, before he revealed anything to Kendall and James, he stuffed the sleeve of his sweatshirt into his mouth. That way, Carlos figured, even if he did slip up and tell the secret, his voice would be muffled by the fabric.

James and Kendall laughed, but Logan didn't seem as good-humored.

Normally, Carlos would have been slightly irked at Kendall and James, but he understood that the guys didn't realize the secret was a serious one. And how could they?

It disheartened Carlos to know his brainwaves hadn't been received by Kendall.

"Did _you_ do something bad?" James guessed. "Like that one time when you super-glued Buddy Simmons's hand to his tuba?"

Carlos ripped the sweatshirt sleeve out of his mouth. "That was an _accident_." His eyes widened, and he gasped. "No! Ah! Stop talking to me! I can't tell you the secret!"

"Aha!" exclaimed Kendall. "So you do have a secret."

"I knew it," said James. "Tell us!"

Carlos shook his head yet again, cramming his sleeve back into his mouth. "Mmph," he told James. Hah. James could have fun deciphering that.

"Come on guys," Logan spoke up, voice wavering. "He doesn't have to tell us if he doesn't want to."

"Thaamph muhhfgh," Carlos mumbled appreciatively.

Kendall laughed. "Fine. But you'll tell us eventually, right Carlos?"

Carlos didn't know how to answer that, so he turned his head out the window and focused on the wet spot forming on his arm. His eyes fell on the houses and cars blurring by, though he wasn't really focusing on any of that. All he could think about was Logan.

His foot involuntarily began to tap as he felt the secret once again try to force itself out of his mouth. He balled up more of his sweatshirt and bit down. He hated keeping secrets.

Carlos listened to Kendall and James and Logan talk for a while, mostly about school and how Kendall and James had taken a super hard pop quiz in science class. Carlos wanted to join in the conversation, but knew he couldn't risk it. The secret could pop out without him knowing it.

It wasn't long when Logan's bus stop came around. Carlos tried to say goodbye, but he doubted Logan understood him.

As soon as Logan was off and the vehicle started forward again, Carlos adjusted the backpack on his shoulders. The boys all lived in the same neighborhood, and Carlos's stop was next.

"See you tomorrow," said Kendall as Carlos practically leapt over James to get to the aisle.

Carlos waved and hurried off the bus, the fresh spring air causing his tense muscles to relax a bit. He raced to the sidewalk, not bothering to turn around and watch the bus leave for Kendall and James's stops like he normally did. He had to talk to Logan.

Carlos bolted down the sidewalk, his shoes slapping hard against the pavement. His house was in sight, with his father's police cruiser pulled up in the driveway.

Carlos dashed up the walkway to the front of his house and pulled open the door. "I'm home!" he shouted, dropping his backpack down by his feet. "Dad, I have to go to Logan's house!"

Mr. Garcia appeared from the kitchen, still clad in his uniform and helmet. "Hey," he greeted.

"Hi," said Carlos. He anxiously bounced up and down where he stood, digging his own helmet out from his backpack. "I have to go to Logan's house. Is that okay?"

"You just got here," said Mr. Garcia, smirking slightly. "Aren't you going to tell me about your day?"

Carlos secured his helmet and gave it a rap. "I played dodge ball and didn't even get hurt, ate some weird stuff for lunch, broke a shoelace, found some gum on the floor and failed a spelling test. Bye, Dad!" He grabbed the door handle and yanked, rushing to the garage to retrieve his bicycle.

As Carlos rolled his bike out the side door of the garage, his heart fluttered with a familiar feeling of nervousness. He wasn't sure about a lot of things that he did, but Carlos knew that he had to try to get some more information out of Logan. His friend was getting hurt and he had to stop it somehow. He just didn't know exactly how to go about doing that.

Mr. Garcia poked his head out the door. "Be back before dinner, okay?"

"Okay," Carlos called back. He hopped up on his shiny red bike that he had gotten for his birthday last year and pedaled as fast as his feet could move.

Logan's house was only a few blocks over, so it took Carlos no time at all. When he arrived at Logan's house, he was nearly out of breath. Carlos tossed his bike carelessly on the lawn and bounded up the front steps. He pressed the doorbell, hearing the echo from inside the house.

Carlos hopped up and down on his feet as he waited for someone to answer. He was about to press the button again when the door swung open.

"Oh, hi, Carlos," Mrs. Mitchell greeted with a smile. Carlos liked Mrs. Mitchell. She was nice to everyone and always in a good mood. And she was really pretty, too. Her brown hair was long and neatly combed, and her blouse was flowery and pink. Plus, she made great chocolate chip cookies, which Carlos was pretty sure he could smell wafting in from the kitchen.

"Hi, Mrs. Mitchell," said Carlos, continuing to bounce. "Can Logan play?"

She looked at him strangely for a moment. "Sweetheart, do you need to use the bathroom or something?"

"No." Carlos stilled himself.

She laughed. Carlos wasn't sure why. "Come on in. I just made some cookies."

As much as he loved Logan's mother's baking, Carlos had more important matters to attend to. But, nonetheless, Carlos politely removed his shoes and helmet by the door, then followed Mrs. Mitchell to the kitchen. Logan was at the table, chocolate on his face and a glass of milk in front of him.

"Carlos came to play," Mrs. Mitchell told her son.

Carlos grinned and waved.

"Um, hi." Logan looked uneasy. Carlos didn't know too much about figuring out what other people were thinking, but he guessed that Logan was hoping that Carlos wouldn't reveal the secret to Mrs. Mitchell.

Carlos pulled up a chair next to his friend. "Can we go play in your room? When you're done eating?"

Logan was about to answer when Mrs. Mitchell cut him off. "Oh, Carlos, you'll have a cookie, won't you?"

The Latino bit his lip. He really wanted to talk to Logan as soon as possible. But Mrs. Mitchell's cookies were so delicious…

"Well, okay. Maybe just one."

But, of course, one cookie turned to three, and fifteen minutes later, after Mrs. Mitchell chatted with the boys about school and their plans for the weekend and whatnot, the twelve-year-olds excused themselves from the table to go to Logan's room.

"Thanks for the cookies," Carlos said. "They were yummy."

Mrs. Mitchell chuckled. "Just come down if you want another."

Carlos agreed and followed Logan down the hall and to the staircase. Logan was unusually quiet and it made Carlos even more nervous.

His throat was beginning to ache, and Carlos concluded that it was because of the secret locked inside of him. As soon as the two boys entered Logan's room, Carlos slammed the door shut. "You have to let me tell!" he shrieked.

"Shh!" Logan hissed.

Carlos shook his head back and fourth. "This is bad, this is bad. I need to tell. I have to tell someone right now. Someone has to know, I have to tell them, I -" Carlos's head flew backwards as a pillow hit him in the face.

"Be quiet!" Logan warned. "My mom'll hear us and come up here."

Carlos lowered his voice to a harsh whisper, ignoring the pillow. "How come you won't tell me who hurt you? Don't you think I can help? Don't you trust me? Do you hate me?" Carlos stopped. He looked directly at Logan, who was fiddling with the hem of his shirt. "Logan, you… You hate me, don't you?" Tears sprang into his eyes.

Logan groaned. "No, Carlos, that's ridiculous. Don't say that."

"You hate me," Carlos whined. It only made sense. Why else would Logan refuse to tell Carlos what was going on? Best friends told each other everything.

Carlos sniffled, feeling like his stomach had fallen to his feet. He waited patiently as Logan placed both hands on his head and paced back and fourth, obviously distressed.

Carlos bended down and picked up the pillow from the floor. He tossed it back onto Logan's bed. The comforter Logan had was plain blue and matched the colors of the wall. It made his bedroom look more grown-up, unlike Carlos's room, which was still _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ themed.

Logan sighed a few times, but he still wasn't saying anything.

"Please tell me," Carlos pleaded. His voice came out small and squeaky. "Please tell me what's going on. We're best friends, I think. Unless you hate me. But you're still _my _best friend, and best friends are supposed to help each other."

Carlos recalled how unreliable he had been in the past. It seemed like he was always the one messing something up, or getting the guys into trouble. He figured he couldn't blame Logan for not wanting his help. Logan was the smart one. Logan probably knew better than to let Carlos get involved in serious matters.

Tears began to fall down Carlos's cheeks. It was beyond his control. He started to cry.

Logan looked up, narrowing his eyes in concern. "Hey," he said.

Carlos cried even harder, lowering his head and letting his shoulders shake. He was twelve years old, and everyone knew that twelve year old boys weren't supposed to cry. Crying was for babies. Not even Kendall's sister cried. And not only was Katie six years old, but she was a _girl_.

But he couldn't stop himself. It was as if an 'on' switch had been flipped, and he couldn't turn it back off. Carlos decided there must be something wrong with him. Why else would Logan not come clean? Carlos had seen the bruises. He knew they were there. Why not just confess?

Hands were placed on Carlos's shoulders, and he hesitantly looked up. "Carlos, by not telling anyone about this, you _are _helping me," Logan said quietly. He looked away. "And… The reason why I can't tell you anything is because… Well, it's… embarrassing." His voice cracked and eyes shone bright.

Carlos wiped his nose with the back of his hand. "D-Don't cry, Logan. You can't cry. Because if you cry then I'll cry and I don't want to cry because Kendall says that crying doesn't help anything."

For some reason, Logan smiled. "You're already crying," he pointed out.

"Oh." Carlos ran his hand across his cheeks and felt that they were wet. "Right."

Logan stepped back and his smile slowly faded away, but its effects lingered. It made Carlos feel not so afraid anymore. Smiling meant happiness. So he deduced that Logan was now happy again. And if Logan was happy, then maybe he would explain what Carlos wanted to know.

"Why is it embarrassing?" Carlos wondered. Unless Logan really did get the bruises from knocking himself into a door. That _would _be pretty embarrassing.

"It just is, okay?" answered Logan. He sounded kind of angry. Not happy.

Carlos frowned. "Is that why you won't tell a teacher like you usually do?"

Logan didn't move. He stared at the carpet, pursing his lips like he normally did when he was pondering something carefully. Nothing made a sound as he opened his mouth as if to say something, then stopped himself.

Carlos wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans.

"Look," Logan started with a sigh. "It's this kid, okay?"

He paused like he was waiting for a response, so Carlos nodded.

Logan continued. "Taylor. And, I… I can't do anything about it, or else I'm going to get hurt even more."

"Taylor who?"

"Dunno."

Carlos racked his brain, trying to think of any Taylors he knew. There was Taylor Wix, but he was a nice guy, not a bully. He was in choir with Carlos last year. Bullies weren't good singers, right?

"Well, why don't you just fight back?" Carlos wondered. "You're strong. Or tell a teacher. You always tell a teacher. How come you're not this time?"

Logan raked a hand through his hair and sighed for the millionth time. "Carlos, it's complicated. You don't understand." His voice was soft.

A wave of frustration suddenly crashed through him, and Carlos could feel his face grow red. "Then help me understand!" he cried. "You told me you were handling this, but it doesn't really seem like it!" His vision began to blur and he let out a sob before latching his arms around Logan's body.

Logan stiffened and kept his hands at his side as Carlos pressed his face to Logan's shoulder. "Carlos…" he croaked. "Y-You're hurting me…"

Carlos yelped and jumped back like Logan was on fire. His heart hammered madly in his chest and fear caused him to pant in order to catch his breath. "Wh-What did I do?" he sobbed. All frustration was instantly replaced with apprehension.

Logan let out a pained gasp and brought a hand up to his chest, tentatively rubbing his fingers over the injured area.

Carlos's hands began to shake, and he took another step away from Logan. Then, something else strange happened to his hand. It was wet.

He looked down. Something red and warm smeared his palms. Carlos screamed.

Logan snapped up. "What?" he exclaimed.

Carlos backpedaled into the wall, holding his hands out for Logan to see. "What did I do? What did I do?" he screeched, squeezing his eyes shut. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry -"

"Dude, calm down," said Logan, speaking loudly to be heard over Carlos's sobs. He quickly crossed the room and snatched some tissues from a box on his dresser. "It's fine, Carlos, it's fine," Logan assured. He grabbed Carlos's outstretched hand and began to wipe it off with the tissue. "It's just from my arm. See?"

Carlos slowly opened an eye and saw the fresh, tiny nicks that speckled Logan's forearm. Blood smudged around the wounds.

Carlos spoke so rapidly that he wondered if Logan could even understand him. "I have to tell Kendall. I have to tell Kendall because he always knows what to do and he always thinks of plans. Or we can tell your mom because your mom is super nice and I bet she doesn't want you to get hurt just like I don't want you to get hurt no more. And this isn't right, I don't think. I don't know, I-I don't know, but I know y-you shouldn't be getting bruises or scratches. I know that. I know that you shouldn't h-have those things -"

For the second time that day, a hand was clamped over Carlos's mouth. Carlos kept talking, his voice muffled. "Shh," said Logan. "Chill."

But Carlos couldn't chill. How could Logan tell him to _chill_? Logan was the one planning to be a doctor; surely Logan knew that bleeding was bad and if he didn't get a Band-aid soon he could possibly bleed himself into a coma. Carlos had seen that on TV once. He sure didn't want that to happen.

"Listen," Logan told him.

Carlos finally ceased trying to speak, but Logan still didn't remove his hand.

"You can't tell Kendall or James or my mom or anyone about this, okay? No one can know. Not anyone. You _promised _you wouldn't say anything. And you can't break a promise."

Kendall said that all the time. It was comforting to know that when Kendall said 'I promise', he meant it. Carlos wanted the guys to get that same sense of comfort whenever Carlos promised them something. If he went and told on Logan, he could lose Logan's trust forever. Not to mention Carlos was still trying to decide if Logan was serious when he said he would get hurt even more if Carlos told anyone. Best friends were supposed to protect each other. Carlos couldn't let things get worse for Logan.

Of course, on the other hand, the scratches on Logan's arm were fresh, meaning that Logan had lied when he said he was handling things.

It was a lose-lose situation. Logan was getting hurt by Carlos not saying anything, and Logan would get hurt again if Carlos did say anything.

Carlos sniveled and whimpered, confused. Logan slowly took his hand off of Carlos's mouth and took a step backwards, pressing the tissue to his arm.

"I think I want to go home now," Carlos murmured, wiping at his eyes.

He needed to know more about promises. And who was better to talk to about promises than Kendall?


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Yay! My brother is so nice. He let me use his laptop again so I could type this! Hurray!**  
**Thank you so much to everyone reading and reviewing. It really means a lot to me :) I hope you like this chapter.**

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Chapter 3

The next day at school, Logan wore long sleeves.

Carlos sat through his first three classes of the day without saying a single word. Except for choir, but Carlos figured that didn't really count because choir was a singing class where he had to open his mouth or else he would get in trouble. He even had a few kids approach him during the morning asking if he was okay. Going a whole class period without making a joke or chatting to a fellow peer was extremely unusual for Carlos.

All he could focus on was solving the mystery that was Logan's situation. He pondered possible theories about who Taylor was, and when Logan was getting hurt. Yesterday, Carlos recalled, Logan had cuts on his arms after school that hadn't been there during gym class. Carlos didn't have any classes with Logan after gym, so that left at least two hours in which Logan could be getting hurt. Maybe the Taylor kid was cornering Logan in a secluded hall in between classes. Or maybe he was beating Logan up in the bathroom or something.

Carlos wanted nothing more than to sneak around and follow Logan all day. But he had been suckered in to skipping class one time before when James was going through his 'rebellious phase', and the school ended up calling Mr. Garcia and notifying him of Carlos's absence. Carlos's didn't like being grounded.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Carlos looked up from staring at his lunch. It was hotdog day. The meat looked a little too orange for a hotdog, but they really weren't too bad. He just wasn't hungry. "Sure. Yeah. I'm fine."

Kendall narrowed his eyes. "You don't look fine."

"How do I look then?" Carlos popped open the spout of his milk carton and took a sip.

"Kinda tired," said James. "Didn't you sleep good last night?"

Carlos shook his head. It wasn't a lie, either. He had slept with his helmet on last night because it usually made him feel safe when he did so. Only this time the only thing he felt when he woke up was a sore neck. He was still debating whether or not to talk to Kendall about promises, but hadn't yet found an opportune time, anyway.

"Ready to go to gym?" Logan asked.

It was hard for Carlos to talk with Logan. He was constantly reminded of how Logan had been lying to everyone about his injuries. Best friends weren't supposed to lie to each other.

At least Kendall and James seemed to forget about Carlos's secret. They hadn't asked him about it all day, and Carlos was grateful. His need to shout out the private information had dissipated slightly after he had spoken with Logan the night before.

"Okay," said Carlos. He picked up his tray, noting that he had only eaten half an apple and a cup of Jell-O. "See you later, guys."

"See 'ya," Kendall and James said.

Carlos followed Logan to the trash can and disposed of his food. They weaved their way through tables and chairs and groups of students until they made it to the hall and started towards the locker room.

"Is it dodge ball day again?" Carlos wondered.

"I think so," replied Logan.

The news brightened his day a little. Maybe a few games of dodge ball would make Carlos feel better. His mind was still whirling about what he should do. Should he tell someone that Logan was getting hurt, or not? Carlos never had to make a such a serious decision before; Kendall usually handled those.

Logan pulled open the door to the locker room, and Carlos followed closely behind. Since most kids didn't have lunch right before gym class, Carlos and Logan were the only two in the room.

Carlos noticed that Logan kept his body turned to the side as he changed. That made him angry for some reason, but he wasn't quite sure why.

It did, however, make Carlos feel a bit better when he realized that Logan would have to wear a short-sleeved shirt for gym class. Maybe someone would question the injuries and Logan would be caught off guard and fumble for a response. Then the person would get suspicious and call 911 or something and Carlos's dad could come use his super-cool policeman interrogation skills and make Logan fess up and they could arrest the Taylor kid -

Carlos snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Logan peel off his shirt. Even though Logan stood at an angle so Carlos couldn't see his chest, Carlos was able to catch a glimpse of a fresh-looking bruise on Logan's shoulder. It was deep, red, and oddly shaped. Carlos thought it looked like finger marks.

He shivered and finished getting dressed. His legs were wobbling slightly as he pulled on his shorts. He hated secrets. And he hated being so conflicted and so scared.

Carlos slammed his locker door shut with a sudden burst of anger. "You're so stupid!" he yelled, voice echoing through the room.

Logan blinked. "Huh?"

"I hate this!" he growled. Without another word, Carlos twirled around and stomped out of the room. He walked straight down the hall, leaving Logan behind, and entered the gym. He placed both hands on his helmet-clad head and paced the floor, taking a few breaths to calm himself.

The doors to the gym opened. He expected Logan to come up to him and ask what was wrong, but Logan must have already known because he said nothing and plopped down on the floor and waited for the rest of the class to file in.

Slowly but surely, more and more kids entered the gym. The teacher, Mr. Ross, came in a moment later and retrieved the balls from the storage room. Class started at exactly 12:15. Mr. Ross quickly took attendance and separated the students, placing fifteen on one side of the gym and fifteen on the other. Carlos ended up on Logan's team, which was unfortunate because it was much more fun when they were on different sides. The two would have friendly competitions to see who could get who out first.

The dodge balls were placed in the center of the large gym. The boys and girls lined up against the wall, taking their starting positions. Carlos was practically jumping up and down, eager to get started. All his anger had melted away as quickly as it came, and now his only concern was getting his hands on a ball.

Logan was right beside him in the lineup, also ready for the whistle to blow.

The gym fell silent as all eyes turned to the teacher. Finally, the signal was given.

Carlos dashed forward and was one of the first students to grab a ball. It was only in his hands for a moment before he had hurled it at a boy and nailed him right in the arm.

Carlos inwardly cheered as the kid slumped off to the side and was the first in the line for the students who were out.

He ducked as a yellow ball sailed over his head. Another flew past his side, but he managed to step out of the way. He scooped up a ball from the floor, backpedaling out of the main line of fire.

A girl beside him leapt in the air and caught a ball. Some boy on the other team angrily marched to the sideline, and Carlos laughed. Dodge ball was awesome.

Carlos crept up to the center line. He spotted a suitable target and brought his arm back, ready to fire. Suddenly, he yelped and nearly dropped to the ground to avoid a ball that shot like a bullet through the air.

He whipped around when he heard a loud smack, wondering who the ball had made contact with. Carlos gasped.

Logan let out a low moan and doubled over, clutching his chest.

"Logan!" Carlos cried. A ball hit him square in the back, but he ignored it, rushing over to his friend. "Man, are you okay?"

Logan remained on his knees, clenching his teeth in obvious discomfort.

Carlos's heart pounded faster as he felt panic start to set in. It was his fault, he knew it was.

"Logan, you alright?" Mr. Ross asked, seemingly appearing from no where and dropping down beside them. "Do you need to go to the nurse?"

The boy on the floor shook his head. "No!" He gingerly rubbed his hand over his chest, wincing. "No, no. I'm fine. Just… wasn't ready for it. Knocked my breath out."

He was lying. The ball had hit Logan right on his bruises. "M-Maybe you should go t-to the nurse," Carlos stammered. He felt like crying again, but he wasn't going to because that wouldn't help anything.

Another ball bounced off his back. Carlos rotated around and shouted to the other team. "I'm out, okay? Stop hitting me!" He turned back to Logan. "I'll help you."

Logan swatted his hand away, pulling himself to his feet without any help. "I'm fine. Just need to sit down for a minute." He took some deep breaths as if to further convince Mr. Ross that he was just winded.

Carlos opened his mouth to speak. Logan met his eyes at the same moment, and Carlos closed it. He nearly blurted out the secret.

"Okay," Mr. Ross agreed. "Carlos, you get back to the game." He put his hand behind Logan and began to guide him to the bleachers.

Carlos didn't miss the pained tears welling in Logan's eyes as he limped away.

"Logan," Carlos called. "I didn't mean what I said."

Logan turned around slowly. "I know," he said. He lowered himself on the bench, a hand still gently rubbing the injured area.

Carlos sighed and proceeded to stand behind the other kids who were out of the game. He hardly noticed when Mr. Ross blew the whistle and started a new game.

Carlos was the first one out.

He had to talk to Kendall as soon as possible. He needed to know if it was okay to break a promise.

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"Are you sick?"

"No."

"Are you mad?"

"No."

"Are you crying?"

"No."

"Are you going to cry?"

"No." Carlos sighed, his forehead pressed to the seat in front of him. Kendall and James kept bombarding him with questions. They knew something was upsetting him and would not stop trying to guess what it was. Carlos understood that they were just trying to be helpful, but he didn't want them to keep talking.

He closed his eyes, which were previously trained on his shoes. Never before had the short bus ride felt so long.

James patted his back. "You can tell us if something's bothering you, man."

"No I can't." Carlos's eyes shot open. Did he say that out loud?

"How come?" asked James.

Yep. He had said that out loud. "Not talking anymore!" Carlos declared, slapping a hand over his mouth. He could picture the nervous look on Logan's face, and the concerned one on Kendall's.

"Does this have anything to do with that secret yesterday?" wondered the blond.

Thankfully, Carlos didn't have to answer that. He could feel the bus come to a stop and heard Logan gather his things from the seat in front of him. "Bye," Logan said.

James and Kendall said their farewells, but Carlos said nothing. He didn't know how to feel about Logan. A part of him was angry because Logan wouldn't tell anyone about the Taylor kid, and because Logan was lying to everyone about the bruises. But the other part of Carlos was upset and confused, not only for Logan's sake, but because he wasn't sure what was the right thing to do.

When his own bus stop came around, James stepped into the aisle to let Carlos out of the seat.

"Are we still hanging out this weekend?" Kendall asked.

Carlos nodded. He didn't want to open his mouth incase he accidentally told the secret. He gave Kendall and James a tiny wave and exited the bus.

He listened to the vehicle roar and pull away.

Carlos started the half-block walk to his house. He decided he was going to call Kendall when he got home. Maybe Kendall could give him some advice on promises.

Mr. Garcia's police cruiser was once again parked in the driveway. Carlos slowly opened the front door to his house. He let his backpack slide off his shoulders and fall to the ground. At least it was the weekend. Logan couldn't get hurt if he wasn't at school.

Carlos slouched into the kitchen. His dad was sitting at the table, reading a newspaper and eating a doughnut. Carlos always thought it was funny when his dad ate doughnuts, because he saw policemen do that on cartoons.

"How was school?" Mr. Garcia asked without looking up.

Carlos shrugged and headed for the fridge. He located a juice box and poked the straw through the hole on top.

Mr. Garcia lowered his paper. "Bad day?"

"You could say that," muttered Carlos.

He didn't feel like saying anything else to his dad, so he took his juice and wandered upstairs to his bedroom. He plopped down on his bed, sipping his drink. He figured he'd wait a few minutes for Kendall to get home and settled before he called.

He shuddered when he remembered how Logan had looked in the gym. What kind of jerk would want to hurt Logan, anyway? Logan never did anything wrong. He was the nicest person ever and had the best grades of any kid in the school and was really fun to be around. Why would anyone want to beat him up?

And what made this bully so different? Why did Logan say it was embarrassing? He had never been embarrassed about being bullied before. Unless the bully really was Taylor Wix. Maybe Logan was embarrassed because Taylor seemed like such a nice guy to everyone.

Carlos was clueless.

He sighed. Two minutes was long enough. He reached over to his bedside table and grabbed the telephone, then punched in Kendall's number. He pressed the phone to his ear and listened to it ring only two times before someone answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mrs. Knight," said Carlos. "Is Kendall home yet?"

"Hi, sweetie." He could sense the smile in her voice. Carlos liked Kendall's mom just a little better than Logan's mom, mainly just because he was at Kendall's house more often and saw her more. "He just walked through the door. Hang on, I'll get him for you."

"Okay." He set aside his juice and listened to the phone being passed off.

"Carlos?" Kendall said. "What's up?"

Carlos instantly felt his throat tighten with emotion. He was suddenly unsure if this was a good idea. "I don't know what to do," he murmured, sniffling. His eyes misted over with tears, and he hated it. Kendall would get mad at him if he cried, because crying didn't help anything.

"Huh?" asked Kendall. "What're you talking about?"

Carlos closed his eyes, hoping that if he did so, the tears couldn't come out of them. "K-Kendall, have you ever b-broken a promise?" He sniffled again as he anticipated what his friend would say.

"Um…" The was a short pause. "No, I don't think so." He stopped again, then asked, "Why?"

"B-Because," Carlos squeaked. He put a hand over his aching heart and clutched the phone tighter in his hand. "I made a promise… And, I -… I, um, I don't k-know what t-to do… I… Um, I know you c-can't break promises, but this one is important. I think. I-I don't know, I don't know…" He broke off, crying. Though Kendall couldn't see him, Carlos's cheeks flushed red. He didn't want Kendall to hear him and think he was a baby.

"Hey…" Kendall's voice was soft. "Are you crying?"

Carlos didn't answer. It turned out that closing his eyes didn't prevent tears from seeping through and falling down his face.

"Carlos?" said Kendall, sounding concerned. "I'm coming over there, okay? Hang on."

Carlos wiped at his nose and ended the call. He set the phone back on its base and went to his window, watching for Kendall outside. His stomach twisted and churned as he took a deep, edgy breath. He hoped he could ask Kendall about promises without revealing the promise he had made with Logan.

Maybe he shouldn't have called. Maybe he should call Kendall back and tell him not to come.

But it was too late. Kendall lived several blocks away, but somehow had rode his bike the distance in no more than a minute. Carlos gazed at him through the glass as he threw his bike and helmet onto the lawn and raced up the front steps to Carlos's house. The doorbell rang.

"That's Kendall!" Carlos called to his father. "Can you let him in?"

He listened as the door opened and Mr. Garcia greeted the boy downstairs. Carlos nervously wrung his hands together, waiting to hear footsteps. When he did, he bucked up and swiped another hand across his cheeks, clearing them of tears.

Kendall rushed through the door, then closed it behind him. "What's wrong?" he asked. He was breathing hard and his forehead was beaded with sweat.

Carlos swallowed. "Can we, um… Talk?"

Kendall took a breath and nodded. He plopped himself down on the edge of Carlos's bed, but the Latino remained stationary. He kept fiddling with his hands as he prepared his words, thinking carefully about what he wanted to say.

"I promised someone something," Carlos began. He figured as long as he didn't use Logan's name or reveal too much about the situation, Kendall couldn't find out. Now all he had to do was concentrate so he didn't slip up. He spoke slowly and carefully. "But now I think that maybe I should break the promise."

He stopped and looked to Kendall, waiting for a response.

Kendall just raised an eyebrow. "Well, a promise is a promise, Carlos. You can't break one."

Carlos felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. He burst into tears again, cursing at himself because crying was pointless. "I knew you were going to say that," he blubbered. He lowered his head and rubbed at his eyes, too ashamed to look at Kendall.

"What do you want me to say?" said Kendall, sounding utterly confused. "Come here. What's the matter?"

Hesitantly and without looking up, Carlos dragged towards his friend and sat down next to him, crying never ceasing. Kendall gently rubbed his back. "Tell me what's going on."

"I can't," Carlos sobbed. "I promised I wouldn't."

"How can I help you if I don't know what's happening?" wondered Kendall, voice low.

Carlos took a minute to pull himself together. "Well," he said, clearing his throat. "There's this… person. And I found out something about this person, but the person made me promise not to tell anyone what it was. Only, maybe… I think I should possibly tell, because Lo- Uh… I mean, this person, said they were taking care of things, but I don't think they actually are. Get it?"

Kendall nodded slowly. "Okay…"

"So should I tell?" Carlos wondered.

"Hang on." Kendall closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking. Carlos waited patiently for Kendall to speak again. "Okay. What kind of thing is this person… supposedly not taking care of?"

Carlos frowned. "I can't tell you."

Kendall sighed and scratched at his head. Carlos hoped he wasn't getting angry. "Carlos, this sounds serious." But his voice didn't sound angry.

"It is," Carlos murmured.

"If someone is getting hurt or something, then you need to tell."

Carlos's eyes widened, unsure of how to respond. He tried to remember the exact words he had spoken to Kendall only a few seconds ago. He didn't think he revealed anything about someone getting hurt. Kendall was a really amazing guesser.

Carlos wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

He finally looked up at Kendall. "Even if I _promised_?"

Kendall shrugged. "Well, yeah. If someone's getting hurt, then I'd say it counts as an exception."

Carlos didn't know there were exceptions to promises. He wondered if Kendall just made that up, or if it was a universal thing that everyone knew about but him. Because that happened sometimes.

"Carlos, who are you trying to protect?" Kendall whispered.

The Latino ignored him. "But, uh, the person says that if I tell anyone, things will get worse. Do I still tell?"

Kendall sighed a second time. He put a hand on Carlos's shoulder. "How about I answer your question after you tell me everything you know?"

Carlos sprang to his feet, breaking free of Kendall's touch. "No!" he cried. He was too confused now. He couldn't tell Kendall everything he knew. He had just found out there were exceptions to promises; he needed to think about it some more. "I can't tell you! Not yet. I'm not supposed to tell, or else this person will get hurt more and possibly hate me forever, and I don't want that to happen!" Carlos covered his ears. "I changed my mind now. I don't want to talk anymore."

"Carlos -"

"No!" he shrieked. He dropped to his knees and scrambled underneath his bed. It was actually a pretty foolish idea, because he had been afraid of monsters under his bed until just a few months ago when Logan bought him some anti-monster stuff to spray around his bed. Eventually, Carlos found out it was just water. He was mad at Logan for a while until Logan explained that yes, the anti-monster spray was just water, but no monsters had come to eat Carlos during the night, thus proving that they didn't exist. Either way, Carlos hadn't cleaned under his bed in a few years. It smelled worse than the locker room and the carpet was all sticky.

He kept his hands over his ears, watching Kendall's feet as he hopped off the bed. Then he dropped to his knees and peered underneath.

"Carlos, come out of there," Kendall said, rolling his eyes.

Carlos shook his head. "No." He sniffled again.

"You can tell me anything, Carlos. I can help."

He furiously shook his head once again, feeling something wet in his hair. He didn't want to touch it to find out what it was.

"I'm going to get your dad."

Bad idea. Then his dad would use his policeman interrogation skills to get the truth out of him, and Carlos didn't want anyone to know the secret. "I'm going to come out again as soon as you leave," he told Kendall.

Kendall sighed. He did that a lot whenever they hung out. "Okay, fine." At first he looked a little annoyed, but then his expression softened. "Just promise you'll call me if you want to talk again, alright?"

Carlos wasn't sure if he wanted to do that. He didn't like making promises anymore. Promising things just caused trouble. "Maybe," he said. "That doesn't mean I promise, just so you know. It means I might."

"I can be over again in a sec if you need me," said Kendall. "So… I guess I'll see you later."

"Bye."

Kendall looked at him for a moment before he stood. Carlos stared at Kendall's feet yet again as he walked out of the room. As soon as he was gone, Carlos scrambled out from underneath the bed. He looked down at his clothes, which were covered in crumbs and some pink gooey stuff and what was possibly animal fur.

He bounced over to his window again. Kendall grabbed his helmet, fastened it on his head, and mounted his bike all at a leisurely pace.

Carlos exhaled in relief. He ran a hand through his hair, then stopped. He had no idea what was stuck in there, but knew the next thing on his agenda was to take a shower.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Bad news. My laptop is fried, and can't be fixed for a couple weeks. *sob* So updates can only come as often as I get my hands on a computer. But there's good news! And that is my brother has been so nice to me and is letting me use his laptop when he gets home from work. Hopefully I don't do anything to make him mad so I can keep using it, lol.**  
**Thanks for reading and reviewing, everyone. I really appreciate all the feedback. :)**

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Chapter 4

Saturday mornings were a big deal to Carlos. He always set his alarm clock to go off at seven, because that was when all the good cartoons were on, like _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ and _Power Rangers_ and _Mighty Ducks_.

Carlos laid on his stomach on the floor of his living room, wearing his boxer shorts, pajama shirt, and helmet. His eyes were fixed solely on the Red Ranger on screen, not even glancing down to scoop a bite of cereal into his mouth. Carlos's mom always told him not to sit too close to the TV screen, because if he did then his brain would rot. But his dad let him sit as close as he wanted, so he figured his mom was just saying that to scare him.

Sometimes Mr. Garcia would join his son in watching Saturday morning cartoons since he had weekends off from work, but today he was still in bed.

The end credits to _Power Rangers _started to roll, and Carlos sighed and rolled over on the floor. Television would distract him for eleven minutes at a time until a commercial aired and his thoughts drifted elsewhere. Like to the conversation he had with Kendall yesterday. All the guys were going to hang out at Kendall's house today after lunch, but Carlos was slightly nervous. What if Kendall started telling everyone about what had happened? Then Logan would find out that Carlos nearly told Kendall the secret and he would get mad and -

Carlos ceased his racing thoughts when the opening theme to _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ began to play. He pulled himself up and sat cross-legged on the floor, chomping down on another spoonful of cereal.

He liked _Turtles _the best of all the cartoons because they reminded him of his friends. There were four turtles: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. The boys even had action figures that they used to play with when they were younger. (Carlos still played with his, but none of the guys knew that.) Kendall was Leonardo, the blue turtle. Logan was Donatello, the purple one, and Carlos was Michelangelo, the turtle who wore orange. That left James with Raphael, the red turtle. No one thought Raphael matched James's personality very well, but since everyone else had already been assigned a turtle, James had no choice.

Carlos wished he was as brave as the turtles. He wanted to be a superhero when he grew up. That way he could fight crime and save his friends from bullies, like the mysterious Taylor kid who was bothering Logan.

As soon as the show hit a commercial, Carlos abandoned his cereal and crossed the living room. He made his way to the bookshelf and pulled down a yearbook. He opened it to the sixth grade and skimmed down the list of names, keeping an eye out for any boy named Taylor.

Carlos smirked when he saw Kendall's school picture. Mrs. Knight had combed his hair all neat and parted it on the side and even made him wear a tie. Not even Logan looked that dorky, and Logan had worn an argyle sweater vest.

Carlos kept paging through. He finally spotted a Taylor. Taylor Sear. He had a messy mop of red hair on his head and had such broad shoulders that they didn't even fit entirely in the picture. He was a football player, Carlos knew. Maybe he was the bully.

He stopped. Carlos's dad always told him never to assume things about people. But were there exceptions to that rule, too?

Carlos decided he hated exceptions.

He continued flicking over the pages, keeping Taylor Sear's name in the back of his head. Eventually, Carlos came to the end of the alphabet and saw Taylor Wix's picture. Taylor Wix wasn't mean, though. At least from what Carlos had observed.

He glanced over his shoulder at the TV screen. The turtles were back on, but he ignored them, refocusing his attention to the yearbook.

He flipped to seventh grade. Older kids often picked on the younger kids, so maybe Taylor was an upperclassman. Carlos located a Taylor Gerlach, but he looked happy and all polished up like in Kendall's picture. Not a likely candidate for a bully. Bullies probably dressed in chains and spikes and stuff, not all fancy.

Then there was Taylor Jacobson, a fair-haired boy with glasses and mouth full of metal, but Carlos overlooked him as well. And Taylor Odegaard was the Norwegian kid that everyone got along with and Carlos knew he could never hurt a fly.

Eight grade revealed Taylor Cupke and Taylor Miles, but none had the look Carlos associated with bullies. There sure were a lot of Taylors. Carlos concluded that 'Taylor' was his new least favorite name. Before it was Paul, because he once had a goldfish named Paul who decided it would be a good idea to die when Carlos tried to take it in the bathtub with him. Paul was stupid.

"Good morning."

Carlos slapped the yearbook shut and replaced it on the bookshelf. "Morning," he said to his dad. He smiled when he turned around, because Mr. Garcia was wearing the dinosaur pajamas Carlos had bought him for Christmas last year.

"Want me to make you some breakfast?" asked Mr. Garcia, yawning.

Carlos shook his head and bounced over to the center of the living room. He grabbed his empty cereal bowl from the floor. "That's okay. I already ate."

Mr. Garcia nodded and started down the hall to the kitchen. Carlos followed him. He placed his bowl into the sink as his father started making some coffee.

"Dad, wanna watch cartoons with me?"

He shook his head. "Not today, son. Your dad has a headache."

Carlos frowned. He disliked it when his father talked about himself in third person. Carlos had tried that once. He went a whole day calling himself by his first name. But that turned out to be a bad idea, because his parents ended up taking him to a doctor because they thought something was wrong with his brain.

"I'm going to be like the _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ when I grow up," said Carlos. He pulled out a chair and plopped down at the kitchen counter, watching his father fill the coffee pot with water.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Carlos confirmed. "Or maybe like the _Power Rangers_. They get to beat up bad guys and stuff. That's what I want to do."

Mr. Garcia raised an eyebrow, placing the coffee pot on its base. "You want to fight villains for a living?"

"Yep. Or maybe put them in jail, like you do."

His dad smiled at him. Then he leaned against the counter and crossed his arms.

Carlos crossed his arms, too. A sudden thought came to him, and he spoke warily. "Dad, can you… put bullies in jail?"

"Bullies?"

Boy, he was asking a lot of questions this morning. Carlos was afraid his father was subtly trying work information out of him. Maybe he was using a secret tactic to interrogate him like Mr. Garcia did to suspects in a case. Of course, Carlos was possibly being paranoid. That happened a lot, especially when he watched scary movies with James and then refused to sleep with the light off for a month and a half.

Carlos shifted uneasily in his seat. "Well, yeah. Like if someone is beating someone up. Can the bully go to jail?"

Mr. Garcia wasn't smiling anymore. He narrowed his steely eyes. "I guess it depends on the situation. Why?"

Carlos shrunk back under his father's gaze. "I was just speaking hypothermicly."

Mr. Garcia blinked. "What?" He scratched at his head and stared at Carlos for a long moment. Finally, he snapped his fingers. "Oh, you mean hypothetically?"

Carlos shrugged. "Sure."

His father ran a hand over his face and sighed. "Watch my coffee, will you? I need to take an aspirin."

Carlos nodded as Mr. Garcia left the room. The familiar thick feeling in his throat returned, and he coughed, hoping that would calm the sudden urge to tell the secret. Keeping secrets was hard work. At first, Carlos thought if he was going to tell anyone about the secret, he would tell Kendall. But maybe his dad was a better person to tell. After all, Mr. Garcia was a policeman. He would probably know what he was doing.

Mr. Garcia reentered the room several minutes later. He checked on his brewing coffee before taking a seat at the table next to his son. The young boy had his eyes focused on the table, finding patterns in the grain of the wood.

"Is someone giving you a hard time at school?" he asked.

Carlos didn't look up. "No."

Mr. Garcia sighed softly. "Well, son, if someone is bothering you, then you can tell a teacher. They'll take care of it. Or tell me, and I'll make sure no one messes with you anymore." He lightly punched Carlos on the arm.

Carlos smirked and met his dad's eyes. "Okay, but what if we can handle it?"

"'We' as in Kendall, James and Logan?"

Oops. "Or 'we' as in… me." He knew he should have planned his words more carefully in his head before he spoke.

"What do you mean by 'handle' it, exactly?" wondered Mr. Garcia. He leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. He looked strong when he did that.

"I mean, can't I just beat the bully up? Since that's what he's doing to - Uh, someone?" Carlos decided if he found out which Taylor - Wix, Sear, Gerlach, Jacobson, Odegaard, Cupke or Miles - was hurting Logan, he would ask Logan if he wanted to join him in getting some revenge.

"Won't that make you a bully, too?"

Good point. "But I'd be fighting in the name of justice."

Mr. Garcia looked amused for a second, and he turned his head away. When he looked back at Carlos, his tiny smirk was gone. "Son, you can't just go around fighting people who are giving you a hard time. Fighting is wrong."

"You fight," Carlos countered.

Mr. Garcia raised both eyebrows and leaned back. "Oh?"

"Yeah. Remember that one time when you came home and your face was all cut up and stuff? You said you fought some guy who stole a lady's purse."

Mr. Garcia rubbed at his eyes. "But that's my job, son. Besides, I was defending myself."

The boy with the helmet pondered back a few years ago. "But what about when you had to go to sensitivity training for using your Taser gun on that guy who ignored the 'keep off the grass' sign?"

"Well, that -"

"Or when you had to go to sensitivity training _again _because you duct-taped some guy to the wall because you thought he was breaking into people's cars, only he wasn't and -"

"Okay, okay," Mr. Garcia said, holding up his hands. "So maybe I'm… a bit of a hypocrite. But that does not give you permission to do wrong just because I did. Got it?"

Carlos didn't know what 'hypocrite' meant, but he nodded anyway.

"Good." Mr. Garcia smiled and stood, walking over to the coffee pot. He poured himself a cup and sat back down at the table as Carlos rose. He wanted to go watch cartoons again so he could forget about everything for eleven minutes.

* * *

The doorbell rang at about 12:30.

"That's the guys," Carlos called down the hallway. "I'll be back before dinner."

"Okay, have fun," Mr. Garcia called back from the living room. "Take your helmet."

"Always do." Carlos slapped it on his head and pulled the front door open. James and Logan stood on the steps. Logan had long sleeves again.

"Hey," they greeted in unison.

Carlos excitedly hopped down the stairs. "Hey." He skipped over to the side door of the garage to retrieve his bicycle. "Ready to go to Kendall's house?"

"Yep!" said James, mounting his blue bike.

Logan climbed on his green one, and the three boys rode towards the sidewalk. Riding bike always reminded Carlos of the _Power Rangers_, because all of them had different colors. It would be fun to be like the Rangers. When the boys were little, they'd run around Kendall's backyard and pretend they were fighting enemies. Usually the foe was Mrs. Knight when she made the boys let Katie play. Katie always got to be the pink Ranger, but it was never any fun when she played because she was the best at hitting targets with Kendall's Nerf dart guns.

"Guys, I'm failing science," James blurted out. The three maneuvered their bikes into the street so they could ride side-by-side, keeping a watchful eye out for cars, of course.

"I can help you study if you want," Logan offered.

Carlos felt a tiny pang of anger. So Logan could tell James about the periodic table, but not about how he was being bullied?

Carlos nearly blabbed the secret again. His mouth opened and a small croak came out, but he quickly covered it up by clearing his throat. "I'm not doing very well in English. I keep failing my spelling tests."

"Spelling?" Logan echoed. "That's, like, the easiest part of English. Mrs. Callum gives us a list to study."

Carlos shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not good at studying. Besides, the words are hard." The boys rounded a corner, looking both ways before they crossed the street.

"Yeah," James agreed. "I can never remember how to spell 'definitely.'"

"Really?" asked Logan. "I can even spell that in military alphabet."

Carlos wrinkled his brow in confusion. "What's that?"

"The military uses it to avoid confusion by using letters that sound the same, like 'p' and 'e' and 'g'," Logan explained. "It's like spelling words with other words."

"I can't even spell words with letters."

"Delta Echo Foxtrot India November India Tango Echo Lima Yankee," recited Logan.

Carlos and James both ceased pedaling, letting their bikes glide forward on their own. "What?" they deadpanned.

Logan laughed. "That was military alphabet. I spelled 'definitely.'"

"That's dumb," muttered Carlos. "It would just take forever to write all that out. And it didn't even make sense."

"I can spell your name," Logan said. "Charlie Alpha Romeo Lima Oscar Sierra."

Carlos was even more confused. "My name's not Charlie."

"Or Romeo," said James, looking equally perplexed. "Or Oscar."

Logan sighed. "Never mind." The boys rode onto Kendall's block.

"How do you spell my name?" James asked. He swerved onto the sidewalk as Kendall's house drew near.

Logan smirked. "Juliet Alpha Mike Echo Sierra."

James slammed on the brakes and skidded to a halt. "What! Juliet?"

Carlos snorted. "Haha, Logan called James a girl!"

"No I didn't!" Logan cried. He groaned. "Can we just forget I mentioned this?"

James still seemed upset about the Juliet thing. Carlos didn't understand military alphabet, and he wondered if Logan had just made the whole thing up. He probably did, since he had been lying so much lately.

The three boys parked their bikes on Kendall's front lawn before ringing the doorbell. Mrs. Knight answered, smiling brightly like always.

"Hey, guys," she said. "Come on in. Kendall's out back."

They stepped inside the house and checked the bottom of their shoes for dirt. When they found none, they proceeded into the living room. Six-year-old Katie was sitting on the couch watching _FOX_.

"Hi, Katie," the boys greeted.

She looked up and gave a shy wave. "Hi."

Carlos, Logan and James followed Mrs. Knight as she led them through the kitchen and to the back door of the house. Kendall was sitting in the grass, poking at an anthill with a stick, looking bored.

Mrs. Knight slid the door open and let the boys run outside. She disappeared back into the house as Carlos bounced up to Kendall. "Watcha doing?"

Kendall looked up and grinned. "Waiting for you guys to come."

James and Logan wandered over. James was still frowning.

Kendall must have noticed. "What's up with you?" he asked the brown-haired boy.

"Logan called me Juliet," grumbled James.

"He called me Charlie," Carlos remarked.

Kendall stared at them. "What?"

"Forget it," muttered Logan.

Kendall shrugged and rose to his feet, brushing grass off his jeans. "Okay. So what do you guys want to do?"

Carlos wanted to suggest playing _Power Rangers_ like they used to do when they were little, but decided not to. They hadn't done that in a couple years. In fact, Carlos wasn't even sure if the guys still liked _Power Rangers_.

"I don't know," said James. "We should probably decide these things before we go to someone's house."

Kendall pursed his lips. "We could… Um, go to the park?"

"Sounds good," Logan said.

"Okay," James agreed.

There was a small pause.

"Carlos?" asked the blond. "Want to go to the park?"

Carlos blinked. "What?" He had been fighting off a sudden urge to scream the secret. He realized that if he clenched his fists and concentrated really hard, he could make the impulse subside.

"I said, do you want to go to the park?"

"Oh," said Carlos. He scratched the back of his head. "Sure. As long as Logan and James don't fight."

"It's not even that big of a deal," Logan moaned. "He asked me how to spell his name in military alphabet, and I told him. I didn't make the letters."

James rolled his eyes. "Then who did?"

"Gee, I don't know," Logan said sarcastically. "The military?"

James obviously didn't appreciate the cynicism. He playfully nudged Logan with his elbow.

Logan emitted a tiny gasp, and a hand raced up to hold his shoulder.

Carlos knew there was a bruise there. He had seen it in the locker room. As Logan tentatively rubbed at the afflicted area, Carlos could feel his heart hammer in his chest. Not good. James had barely touched him. It was just a teasing sort of jostle that the boys exchanged with each other all the time. It shouldn't have hurt.

Carlos breathed faster as he watched Logan with wide eyes.

"Hey, dude, that didn't hurt, did it?" asked James, noting Logan's distress.

Logan forced a smile and bucked up. "No, I'm okay."

Carlos exploded. He threw his hands up in the air. "_No_!"

All eyes turned to him. Kendall and James fell into shocked silence, but Logan looked tense.

Carlos pointed a finger at Logan. "He's _not _okay! He hasn't been okay in a long time!"

"Carlos, don't," Logan warned.

Carlos cringed at the desperateness in Logan's voice. He closed his eyes. "Not okay, not okay, not okay!"

Kendall blinked slowly and held out his hands. "…What are you talking about?"

"Carlos, you promised!" Logan shrieked, fearful tears springing in his eyes.

The boy with the helmet was nearly shouting, despite the feeling of dread bubbling in his stomach. "I know, but there's exceptions when you're getting hurt! I hope." He sniffled, fighting off tears. "I know you'll hate me forever but I'd rather have you safe than have you keep liking me and being hurt."

Logan stomped forward and placed a hard shove to Carlos's shoulders. "Don't tell them!"

"Tell us _what_?" Kendall demanded to know, eyes darting between the two boys.

A paroxysm of fear and confusion and hurt burst out of Carlos, and he was crying again. It was the third day in a row he'd cried, but he figured that didn't really matter anymore. Logan mattered. He had to try to be brave like the Rangers and the Turtles and tell Kendall and James the secret, because if Logan was in pain just by being touched, then things were _not _getting better. And if Logan was convinced that the bully would hurt him more if anyone found out, well, then Carlos could just hire a bodyguard for him or something.

"Logan's getting beat up!" Carlos sobbed. He spoke rapidly so Logan couldn't cut him off. "And I promised not to tell! But some boy named Taylor is hurting him and he has bruises and scratches all over, but Logan's not supposed to let anyone know or else he'll get hurt even more, and _I'm_ not supposed to tell because Logan is supposed to be handling it, only I don't think he really is handling it and things are getting worse anyway!" He whimpered as he sucked in a mouthful of air. "So it doesn't even matter that I broke the promise! Besides the fact that now Logan hates me, but still!" His entire body racked with sobs, and James stepped forward and put an arm around him for comfort.

Logan started to bawl. "Carlos, why'd you have to go and tell them?" he whined. Big, glistening tears rolled down his cheeks, and he lowered his head as his shoulders shook.

Carlos plugged his ears, guilt pounding through him at the sound of Logan's cries. "Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry, I'm sorry," he chanted.

For a moment, the only noise was the two boys wailing. Carlos leaned into James's side, and Kendall approached Logan and put both hands on his shoulders.

"Logan, what's going on?" Kendall asked, voice soft and gentle.

Logan shook his head, sniveling.

Even with his hands over his ears, Carlos could still hear Logan weeping. He didn't want to hear that anymore, considering he was the one who had caused his friend's tears. "I want to leave," he murmured to himself, panting in fear. "I want to leave, I want to leave, I want to leave." Sometimes he had to say things aloud over and over again to get the message to his brain.

Carlos broke away from James and sprinted across the grass. He didn't know where to go, so he found a tree in the corner of the yard and wrapped his arms around the trunk, pressing his face to the rough bark. His back quivered and shoulders heaved up and down. Then he remembered how he had tried to hug Logan on Thursday, but Logan told Carlos that it hurt. Carlos didn't want to hurt the tree.

"Sorry, tree," he whimpered, loosening his grip just a bit. He closed his eyes and cried some more, heart aching. He was so confused. Did he do the right thing? Was he right to break the promise?

He would never be a Ranger or a Turtle. They were brave and strong and they never cried. Carlos knew he wasn't brave, or else he wouldn't feel so scared. And he wasn't strong, because if he was, then he wouldn't feel so helpless. And he was crying harder than he had ever cried before, so he had broken that superhero rule, too.

Carlos forgot about hurting the poor tree and hugged his arms tighter around the trunk, his own cries drowning out the sound of Logan's. His heart hurt.

A hand was placed on his back. He didn't turn around to see who it was.

"Logan wants you to come back over there," said James.

Carlos shook his head back and fourth. "N-No he d-doesn't. You're j-just saying that."

"Am not." James sighed softly. "Come on."

"No!" Carlos cried. "He hates me."

The hand on his back disappeared, and Carlos returned to being miserable by himself. Enfolding the tree made him feel a little safer, because he felt like a chameleon, blending into the surroundings. Maybe if he stayed there forever, Logan would forget about him and Carlos wouldn't have to go back and see the look in his friend's eye.

He cried harder. The bark was beginning to hurt his face.

Moments later, two arms latched around Carlos's body. He stiffened at the unexpected touch, but refused to turn around.

A face pressed into his back. "I don't hate you," Logan sobbed.

Carlos took a deep breath. Slowly, he peeled himself away from the tree. Logan let go of him and took a step back, rubbing at his teary eyes.

"Really?" Carlos sniffled.

Logan nodded. He didn't look like he was lying.

Carlos shrugged. "Okay."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Yay, a fast update! Boo, a short update! Geez, I've been telling everyone not to expect quick updates, but I've been moving right along, haven't I? This one is a little short, though. Probably my shortest chapter ever. But I hope you like it anyway. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! And please continue to do so :)**

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Chapter 5

"Someone better start explaining what is going on," Kendall said.

After Carlos and Logan had calmed down a bit, the boys plopped down in the grass and assembled into a circle. Logan looked jittery and uneasy. Carlos, on the other hand, felt like a giant weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He sat cross-legged next to Logan, absentmindedly plucking blades of grass from the ground.

"Now," demanded Kendall when no one gave a response.

Logan sighed. His voice was still hoarse from his previous tears. "Might as well explain, Carlos. The cat's out of the bag now."

Carlos looked up. "What cat?"

Logan smacked his forehead.

"Carlos, what's happening?" Kendall asked again. He sounded kind of frustrated. Carlos knew that Kendall didn't take matters lightly when one of his friends was hurt, so it was safe to say that Kendall was irritated that he was just finding out about Taylor now.

Carlos turned to Logan for confirmation. Logan waved a hand in the air, and Carlos answered. "Logan's getting beat up."

"By who?" James wondered.

Logan shrugged. "Some kid named Taylor."

Carlos continued picking at the grass and arranging it into piles. "He won't tell a teacher."

Kendall leaned forward, narrowing his eyes. "How come?" he said to Logan. "Or why not just tell us?"

Logan must not have liked that question, because he started tearing up again. "I just -…I can't." He rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Besides, Taylor doesn't even go to our school. How's a teacher going to help?"

Carlos stopped fiddling with the grass and sat up straighter. No wonder he couldn't find a Taylor in the yearbook who looked mean. But if the Taylor Logan knew didn't go to their school, then when was Logan getting hurt?

The boys sat in silence for a few moments. James's eyes kept shifting between Carlos and Logan, but Kendall had his closed and his head bowed, deep in thought. His body looked tense.

"Okay," he finally breathed. "Tell us everything you know about this Taylor kid."

Logan uncomfortably shifted positions. "Like what?"

"Like, how old is he?"

"Um," Logan hummed. "I don't know. Maybe fourteen or fifteen."

"So then he probably goes to the high school," Kendall deduced. He scratched his head. "So, uh, when is he… beating you up, or whatever?"

Carlos looked to Logan expectantly. The pale boy stared at the ground, brown eyes shimmering. Carlos decided that seeing his friends cry was his least favorite thing in the world, next to Taylor.

"After school," Logan admitted. "When I walk home after getting off the bus." Carlos's breath hitched in his throat. It chilled him to know that Taylor lived so close. The knowledge also made his heart heavy with guilt. He should have paid more attention. He knew Logan was getting bullied, but he never assumed it was happening outside of school. It was a costly mistake.

"I tried asking my parents to pick me up after school, but my dad works until dinnertime and my mom doesn't see why I can't just ride the bus," explained Logan.

"Then why not just tell them what's going on?" Kendall wondered. "Why have you been keeping this a secret?"

Logan lowered his head and said nothing. Like Carlos had been doing earlier, Logan began to toy with the grass, twirling it around his fingers and yanking it out of the earth.

More silence. A soft spring breeze rustled the trees and picked up stray blades of grass from Carlos's pile.

The Latino was just as curious about why Logan was being so stubborn. His voice was quiet. "What does Taylor do to you?"

Logan sniffled. "Grabs me." He pulled more grass. "Hits me." Then he tore a particularly long blade in half. "Makes me do… humiliating things." He avoided eye contact with everyone as he pulled his knees to his chest. "I don't want to talk about it."

Carlos felt a twinge of emotion in his chest. He tensed, not wanting to continue hearing Logan sound so frightened. He had a strong urge to leave and retreat back to the tree, but knew he needed to stay and listen to his friend. Besides, his aspiration to help Logan was much more strong than his desire to sprint away.

It was just so difficult to take in at once. Carlos felt worse for Kendall and James, because they had been completely in the dark on Logan's situation, whereas Carlos at least knew a little bit of what was going on.

"So…" Kendall drawled, raking a hand through his hair. "Teachers can't really do anything because none of this is happening on school property, and this kid doesn't go to our school anyway?"

Logan nodded somberly.

"So why not just tell us? We'll take care of Taylor for you."

"Yeah," said James, finally speaking up. "Four against one. He wouldn't stand a chance!" He paused, then added, "Or why not just fight back yourself?"

Logan looked vulnerable when he hugged his knees, and Carlos didn't think that look suited him very well. "I-I can't…"

"Why?" James pressed. "Is he huge?"

"No," said Logan.

"Does he have a gang?" asked Kendall.

"No."

"Does he have weapons?" Carlos put in.

"No."

Silence again. Carlos was even more confounded. He was beginning to think that Logan was lying again. Maybe Logan had changed his mind and decided not to give away any more information. Carlos couldn't think of any other possible reason for Logan not confessing what the big deal was. He had been bullied before. And he had always told an adult right away before things got too out of hand. What made this time different? What was so embarrassing that he was allowing himself to get ruthlessly beaten on his way home from school? What was so awful about Taylor that Logan had to lie to his friends and family?

"Show them the bruises," Carlos said.

Logan finally snapped up. "Um…"

Before he could protest further, Carlos reached over and snatched hold of Logan's arm. In a lightning-fast movement that would make any Ranger or Turtle proud, Carlos yanked on the sleeve of Logan's shirt, revealing his purpled forearm.

"Stop!" Logan cried angrily, desperately trying to wriggle out of Carlos's grasp.

Kendall got to his knees and leaned forward. He wordlessly rested a hand on Logan's injured arm, and the dark-haried boy ceased his attempts to fidget away from Carlos. Logan stared into Kendall's eyes a long moment, and Kendall stared right back, never moving his hand.

Carlos slowly withdrew his own hands back to his sides and watched his two friends continue to share gazes. He didn't know too much about figuring people out, but he guessed that Logan was wondering if he could trust Kendall, which was pretty stupid in Carlos's opinion, because Kendall was probably the most reliable person in the entire world. And the blonde was looking right at Logan, his green eyes soft yet stern at the same time, silently telling Logan that it was okay.

Logan sighed. He at long last blinked and turned his head away, holding out his arm for all the guys to see.

Kendall's eyes widened, and he said nothing. James visibly blanched.

Ugly, painful-looking marks lined Logan's entire forearm. Most were the shapes of little circles, like a tight hand had clamped around it and squeezed. Hard. Then there were the tiny, crescent-shaped cuts that were etched around the circular marks, some scabbed over and some covered in Band-aids.

"…And your other arm?" Kendall choked out, voice barely a whisper.

Logan hesitantly pulled up the other sleeve. Carlos wasn't too surprised at the resemblance.

Kendall turned his head away and cletched his fists. James gasped.

"Show them the other ones," Carlos said to Logan. "They need to see."

Logan cleared his throat. "I don't think I should…"

Kendall whipped his head back around. Carlos couldn't tell if he was angry or just fiercely concerned. "There's _more_?"

Logan whimpered and his body began to shake. Carlos immediately put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I think you should show them," he said. "Just real quick."

Kendall and James waited intently, eyes on Logan, who still refused to look up. His cheeks were blushing pink as he timidly pulled down on the collar of his shirt, revealing the top of his chest.

Kendall sprang to his feet, the sudden movement causing Carlos to jump.

"Dude…" James whispered, eyeing the dark spots flecking Logan's skin.

Logan sniveled as he restraigtened his collar. He slowly looked up at Kendall, who was pacing back and fourth with his hands on his head.

Carlos scooted closer to Logan, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

"I should have noticed," Kendall muttered. "I should have realized…"

"It's okay," Logan told him. "It's not your fault."

Kendall halted and threw his hands in the air. "No, Logan, it's not okay! Some freak is hurting you!"

Logan shrank back. "Please don't be mad…"

"I'm not mad!" Kendall shouted. He stopped and took a deep breath, one hand gripping a fistful of his hair as he calmed himself. "I'm not mad," Kendall repeated, quieter. "I'm frustrated." He glared down at Logan. "Why would you hide this from everyone? From your parents? From _us_?"

Logan suddenly shrugged off Carlos's hand. He livened up as his eyes flashed. "Maybe it's because I'm always the one who gets messed with! None of you guys ever get picked on!" He was practically yelling, and Carlos fought off the inclination to cover his ears. He disliked seeing Logan angry almost as much as he disliked seeing Logan sad. And this possibly counted as both, because Logan's eyes had a glassy shine to them.

"Carlos is the funny one and is friends with more people than I even know, Kendall's captain of the hockey team, and James has had a different girlfriend every week since he was nine! And what do I do?" Logan was nearly crying, now. "I'm the nerd. Kids always try to take advantage of me and try to beat me up unless I promise to do their homework or something. I have been to the principal's office eight times this year. Eight!" He finally let out a sob. "Everytime because I've had to report some kid who's hurting me, or threating to hurt me. Everyone looks at me and sees weak, dorky Logan Mitchell." Tears fell like rain down Logan's cheeks, yet he made no attempt to wipe them away. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Except for you guys. And I don't want you to look at me like everyone else does."

Besides Logan's soft crying, nothing made a sound as Kendall's expression changed from irritated to hurt.

The backs of Carlos's eyes stung. He had no idea Logan was so affected by all the kids who had picked on him in the past. Logan always seemed to shrug things off and move on. Was that all an act?

Carlos hugged his arms around his torso. He wanted to blame someone for everything that was happening, but didn't know who. Was it his own fault for not realizing any of this sooner? Or was it Logan's fault for not telling anyone how all this was making him feel?

Carlos decided to blame everything on Taylor. He didn't care if Taylor was three hundred pounds, had an army behind him and wielded a chainsaw. Carlos would find a way to make sure Taylor never harmed anyone ever again.

James, who had been mostly quiet, was the first to break the silence and speak up. His voice came out really small. "I'd never think of you like that, Logan."

"Me either," Carlos agreed. He leaned to the side, about to give Logan a hug, then stopped. He didn't want a repeat of the last time he tried to do that.

The boys all turned their eyes to Kendall, who was still standing with his hands balled at his sides. "No one is ever going to hurt you again," he said to Logan. "We're going to fix this. I promise."

Carlos winced at the last words. "I don't want to make promises anymore."

"Trust me, Carlos. This is one we are not going to break."

He liked it when Kendall spoke all confident. It made him feel more at ease.

Logan wiped his nose with the sleeve of his shirt. "B-But we can't fix it," he murmured. "I've tried walking home a different way, but if I do then Taylor just waits for me at the bus stop the next day."

Kendall lowered himself back down onto the grass, sitting on his knees. He had that look on his face that always appeared when he had a plan. "Then we," he gestured to James and Carlos, "are going to walk home with you after school. And we are going to give Taylor a taste of his own medicine."

Carlos's eyes widened. He recalled the conversation he had with his dad earlier this morning. Mr. Garcia said that if Carlos went around beating people up, he'd be just like the bully. Carlos didn't want to be like Taylor. "But… I thought fighting was wrong."

"There's exceptions," Kendall said.

There sure were a lot of exceptions Carlos didn't know about.

* * *

Monday came too quick. The rest of Saturday was spent at Kendall's house, and the boys did end up going to the park for a while. Logan said he didn't want to talk about Taylor anymore, and that he wanted to keep this a secret from the rest of the world. Kendall agreed, as long as Logan allowed Kendall, James and Carlos to accompany him after school.

On Sunday, Mrs. Knight drove the boys to the indoor hockey rink where they played all afternoon. Logan secured the goalie position most of the time, because he was too sore to skate around and be checked into the boards.

And when Monday morning finally arrived, Carlos could hardly pay attention during class. He was so eager to finally meet the Taylor kid and teach him a lesson. He figured if there were exceptions to promises, then Kendall was probably right when he said there were exceptions about fighting. Besides, it wasn't like Carlos hadn't gotten into a scuffle before.

The yellow school bus roared to life, preparing to take the boys home. Logan sat in his usual seat beside Kendall, looking pale and uneasy.

Carlos was practically bouncing in his seat. He was ready to kick some Taylor butt. His helmet was secure around his head, and he had been practicing making a fist since this morning.

Even James seemed a little excited, which wasn't very James-like because he was normally too concerned about his hair getting disheveled to involve himself in anything more severe than a playful wrestling match.

Kendall appeared calm. Or, at least, the calmest of the four. He sat still, though his hands were gripping the seat in front of him so hard that his knuckles were white.

Carlos's heartbeat was erratic as the bus slowed to Logan's stop.

Logan licked his lips and turned in his seat. "Listen, guys, there's something I haven't told you -"

"Let's go!" James cried, hurrying into the aisle. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and rushed off the bus, Carlos following closely behind.

The moment his foot hit the pavement, Carlos snapped alert. He peered down both ends of the block, searching for Taylor. He didn't see anyone.

Kendall exited the bus next, Logan trailing behind. He looked extremely upset. "Guys, I changed my mind. I don't think we should do this."

The bus door closed, and it began to move away.

"No one is going to hurt you," Kendall assured. "We'll protect you."

To prove it, Carlos grabbed hold of Logan's left arm, pulling him close. James seized Logan's right, protectively wedging Logan between the two.

Kendall remained up front, leading the way. They started forward.

Carlos could feel Logan shivering, but tried to ignore it. They took small steps, Carlos making sure not to grip Logan too tightly. He glanced behind his shoulder time to time, checking to see if Taylor was sneaking up on him. He didn't see anybody, which was good, because he had no idea what Taylor looked like.

"We really shouldn't do this," Logan moaned again, voice wavering.

"Where is he?" Carlos asked. "Do you see him?"

They walked halfway down the block before Logan answered. "Stop."

The boys did as instructed. Carlos could hear his heart thudding in his ears as he turned to Logan.

Logan took a deep, edgy breath, and pointed down the sidewalk. "There's Taylor," he said, quietly.

Carlos craned his neck to see past Kendall. A figure was standing in the center of the sidewalk a few houses down. Baggy pants, dark t-shirt, and blonde hair sticking out from underneath a black beanie.

"I don't see him," said James, cocking his head to the side.

Logan rolled his eyes. "Are you blind?" He pointed again. "Right there."

Carlos squinted. "Where? Behind the girl?"

Logan's cheeks flushed twenty shades of pink. He closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. "Taylor… _is_ the girl."

Kendall and James froze while Carlos's jaw fell slack. He hadn't seen that one coming.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Another short update. Sorry! The next chapter will be longer. Thanks for reading and reviewing and sticking with me! :)**  
**Also, this chapter has a bit of violence in it. No blood or anything, but I thought I should give you a heads up.**

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Chapter 6

_Don't laugh_, Carlos chanted in his head. _Don't laugh, don't laugh, don't laugh._

It wasn't funny. There was nothing humorous about Logan getting beat up by a girl. It was a very serious situation.

Everything clicked with him, and Carlos finally understood why Logan had been so stubborn. A girl. Taylor was a _girl_! And everyone knew that boys couldn't hit girls. It was no wonder Logan refused to fight back and was so reluctant to get Kendall, James and Carlos involved.

James turned his head to the side, running the back of his hand across his mouth, literally trying to wipe the smile off his face. Carlos had to clap a hand over his own mouth to keep from laughing.

But it wasn't funny. Logan was being hurt by this girl. That was no laughing matter.

Kendall had been standing in stunned silence. He finally turned around and faced Logan, obviously fumbling for words. "Oh. Well, uh… I guess, um…" He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and spoke slowly. "You're getting… beat up… by a… _girl_?"

James let out a laugh. Carlos reached over and smacked the back of his head, but was unable to prevent a loud chortle from escaping his own throat.

Logan moaned and took a step backwards, trying to loosen himself from his friends' holds.

Kendall glared at Carlos and James. "Guys, shut it. It's not funny." Carlos wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a tiny smirk play over Kendall's lips for just a second or two.

Carlos took a deep breath to calm himself. "I know. Sorry, Logan."

Logan tried to back up again. His frightened brown eyes were trained on Taylor, still standing in the distance. Her back was turned; she hadn't noticed them yet.

"Now I get why you didn't say anything before," said Carlos. Logan was telling the truth when he said it was embarrassing.

"We can't fight back," Logan told them. "We can't hit a girl. So what are we supposed to do?"

Carlos exchanged a glance with James, who showed no signs of his previous mirth. What _were_ they going to do? Carlos's father always said never to discriminate and always treat everyone equally. But Mr. Garcia also told Carlos to never lay his hand on a girl.

He was immensely confused. If he hit Taylor, he would be following the treat everyone the same rule and breaking the never hit a girl rule. But if Carlos didn't hit Taylor, then he would be breaking the treat everyone the same rule and be following the never hit a girl rule.

His head hurt. Because if Taylor was a boy, Carlos would totally beat him up.

"Logan's right," James said, looking to Kendall. "We can't hurt her, even if she deserves it."

Carlos held Logan tighter. "Kendall, is this one of those exception things again?"

Kendall sighed, running a hand through his hair. He glanced over his shoulder at Taylor, then back to the guys. "We're going to walk right past."

Carlos didn't like it when Kendall sounded unsure of himself.

"What if she stops us?" Logan asked.

Kendall's demeanor changed dramatically. He straightened up and held both hands out at his sides. "We have a right to walk where ever we want. And that is exactly what we are going to do."

Logan enunciated each word carefully as he repeated himself. "Yes, but what if she stops us?"

Kendall shrugged. "I'll think of something if I need to."

"Kendall, I _know_ she'll stop us."

The blond stared at Logan for a moment, frowning. Then he slowly rotated around, facing Taylor's direction. "I guess I better start thinking, then," he murmured, proceeding forward.

Carlos exhaled loudly. He placed his hand on Logan's shoulder, and he and James pressed along behind Kendall, practically dragging Logan with them. Carlos could feel his heart flutter with trepidation as they inched forward, Taylor getting nearer and nearer.

It all made sense. Logan was too nice to harm a girl, which is why he refused to fight back. And he was probably too shy to admit to his parents or another adult or even his friends what was going on. What Logan had said on Saturday finally registered with Carlos. Logan was always getting picked on by kids, which most likely was not helping his self-esteem. Then when an older girl started beating on him, Logan figured everyone would think he's pathetic and weak.

But he wasn't. And Carlos would never think of him like that. Neither would Kendall or James. It hurt to think that Logan felt like he couldn't trust them.

As the boys kept walking forward, the figure ahead turned around.

Logan squeaked and froze. Carlos carefully examined the girl. She looked sort of rough. Her chin-length hair was held by two low pigtails, a black beanie pulled over her head. She stood with her arms crossed over her chest, wearing a black t-shirt with some strange design on the front, and a loose pair of cargo pants. If Carlos would have seen her picture in a yearbook, he would have guessed she was mean.

Groaning in protest, Logan was pulled forward by James and Carlos, who still secured their protective holds.

As the boys drew closer to the girl standing on the sidewalk, they could see her face more clearly. Taylor was intimidating, for a girl. Her cold eyes were outlined in black makeup, which contrasted her pale skin. Most girls Carlos knew didn't wear any makeup.

A few steps ahead, Kendall strode with confidence. He refused to meet Taylor's eyes as he attempted to casually pass her.

She moved to the side and stepped in front of him. The boys came to a halt.

Taylor looked Kendall up and down before turning her head to Logan. Carlos felt Logan shiver as her gaze landed on him. "Who's this?"

Kendall spoke before Logan had a chance to reply. "Excuse me, but we're on our way to Logan's house." He tried to maneuver around her, but Taylor blocked his path yet again, this time by holding out a hand. Kendall's body visibly tensed.

"I said, who's this?" Taylor said to Logan.

Carlos glared at her, unafraid. Who did this girl think she was, pushing around a younger kid who wouldn't fight back? Carlos knew from watching his Saturday morning cartoons that taking on a defenseless opponent was very dishonorable.

…Unless there were exceptions to that rule, too. But Carlos didn't think there was.

"My friends," Logan said, quietly. He didn't look up at her.

Taylor snorted, looking amused. "You have friends?"

"Yes, he does," Kendall snapped. "Now if you please, we have places to go and things to do." He put one foot in front of the other, preparing to push past her. A hard shove to the shoulders sent Kendall stumbling backwards.

Logan, James and Carlos all gasped.

"Don't touch me," Kendall growled.

Taylor smirked and seized a hold of his shoulders a second time. She pushed him more forcefully.

Kendall backpedaled as he regained his balance. He stood in front of his three friends, holding his arms out to protect them.

Carlos's mind was whirling as he tightened his grip on Logan and set his jaw. Carlos realized that there were a lot of exceptions in the world. He also became aware of the fact that he had been breaking a lot of rules in the past few days, as well as a promise. He decided he didn't care about the no hitting a girl rule.

Even so, his conscious wouldn't allow him to do it.

"You're not going anywhere," Taylor sneered. She took several daunting steps forward.

Carlos didn't break his stare away from hers, even when he noticed Logan's heavy breathing. He felt guilty that he had laughed before. Logan was obviously terrified of this girl.

"What do you want?" James asked, voice low and even.

Taylor laughed. It didn't sound jeering or sardonic. Just a high-pitched, sincerely tickled sort of giggle. "I like your friends," she said to Logan. Then her features darkened, and she turned her head back to James. "What do you got?"

"We're not giving you anything," Kendall snarled.

Carlos raised his eyebrows. It made him uneasy when Kendall got so angry. He wondered if Kendall would follow the never hit a girl rule. His fists were tightly clenched at his side like he was ready to lash out, and he certainly spoke with hostility. But would Kendall attack Taylor?

"Leave us alone, Taylor," Logan muttered. His tone was completely void of any venom.

She smirked again, finally uncrossing her arms and letting them fall at her sides. "Your friends don't seem as nerdy as you are." In a quick motion, Taylor reached out and grabbed Kendall by the shoulders, twirling him around and snatching the top of his backpack.

Kendall shouted in objection as he writhed left and right, desperately trying to free himself from her tight grasp.

"Stop it!" Logan shrieked. He reached forward, but Carlos and James held him back.

"Why do you hang out with this dweeb?" Taylor asked Kendall. With her other hand, she pushed his head back. "He couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag."

Seething, Carlos opened his mouth to say something. Suddenly, Kendall was pushed away. He cried out in surprise and fell onto the sidewalk.

Carlos and James took cautious steps backwards, Logan still sandwiched between them. Carlos had his eyes glued to Kendall, who was frenziedly attempting to pull himself to his feet.

Before he had a chance to defend himself, Taylor yanked on Carlos's collar and shoved him aside. Carlos fumbled sideways and lost his footing, landing hard on his bottom. He watched in horror as James underwent the same mistreatment, leaving Logan standing alone in front of Taylor, eyes darting between his three friends.

Taylor grabbed a fistful of Logan's shirt and pulled him close to her face. "What, you brought backup? You think your three little buddies are going to help you, punk?"

Logan squeezed his eyes shut and prepared for an onslaught of punches.

Ignoring the dull pain near his tailbone, Carlos scrambled to his feet, fear pounding through him. He couldn't let Logan get hurt again. Best friends were supposed to protect each other.

But Kendall beat Carlos to it. The blond rushed forward, forcing his way between Taylor and Logan. He held his hands out and thrust Logan behind his body. His bushy eyebrows were narrowed, face scarlet with rage. "I've always been told never to hit a girl, but if you touch him again I swear I'll give you bruises to match."

Carlos gaped in shock at his friend's words. And for a long moment, no one spoke or moved a muscle. Carlos sneaked a glance at James, who had managed to recover from Taylor's shove and was standing stiffly to Logan's right.

Carlos could see the panic on Logan's face. He wasn't sure if Logan was afraid of Taylor, or scared for the safety of his friends. Maybe it was both.

"Yeah?" Taylor finally asked, as if taking Kendall's threat as a challenge. She began to pace back and fourth, eyes searching for an opening to Logan.

"Just leave him alone, you… You… meanie!" Carlos shouted, unable to form a proper insult. He leapt forward and once more took hold of Logan's arm, determined not to let go again.

It probably wasn't the best idea. Taylor growled and made a plunge for the Latino. Her hand clasped around his arm as Carlos gasped from the pain. Now he knew where the bruises on Logan's arms came from.

"Stop it!" Kendall cried. He tottered on his feet, looking as if he would fight back. But he didn't.

"Hey, don't!" Logan pleaded. It was no use.

Taylor grunted as she yanked Carlos away, forcibly ripping his grip away from Logan. A hand was placed on his shoulder and he was pushed downward while her foot came in contact with the back of his knee. Carlos yelped and crumpled to the ground, pain shooting through his leg.

He rolled over on the grass, barely managing to lift his head to see Taylor move to her next victim. As she asserted her way past Kendall - who still stood protectively in front of Logan - she snatched a fistful of James's hair. He yelled something at her that Carlos couldn't understand before James was rammed into a nearby tree. His body bounced off the trunk, then sprawled on the grass.

"Kendall, watch out!" Carlos screamed, doing his best to climb to his feet. His leg gave out and he fell back to the grass, still sore from the blow to his knee.

Like before, Taylor took hold of Kendall's backpack. Logan screamed at her to stop, but his efforts were useless. Kendall was nearly lifted in the air as Taylor picked him up and shoved him with all her might. He stumbled ahead a few feet before crash landing.

Carlos let out a startled whimper, eyes darting between his three friends. He had to do something. But he couldn't hit her. How was he supposed to protect Logan without harming Taylor?

Carlos placed both hands on his helmet-clad head as a sense of urgency surged through him. He took short, sharp breaths. He was never any good at thinking.

Horrified, Logan held his hands up in surrender. Taylor ignored them, her fingers curling around Logan's black-and-blue flesh. He hissed in pain as he was jerked closer to her body.

"Look at you," Taylor spat. "You're so pathetic. What were you trying to do, huh? You bring your friends with to take me on?" She brought a fist back and stuck a hard punch to Logan's stomach.

Carlos gasped. He could hear the air rush out of Logan's lungs as he doubled over.

He suddenly had an idea. Carlos bolted to his feet, forgetting about his injured knee, and threw his body at Taylor. He latched himself around her body, pinning her arms at her sides.

Logan fell free from her grip, collapsing to the ground and holding his stomach.

"Run, Logan, run!" Carlos shrieked. Holding onto a girl so she couldn't move her arms definitely didn't count as hitting one.

Taylor grunted and squirmed. "Get off me, you freak!"

Then, James was clutching onto Taylor's other side, wrapping his arms around her body. Carlos hadn't even seen him get up.

Taylor said a naughty word. She managed to get an elbow back and nudge Carlos in the chest, but it had little energy behind it. "Get off!" she hollered again through clenched teeth.

"Logan, run!" Carlos urged. He cried out as Taylor whipped to the side. For a second or two, his balance was nearly lost. Luckily, James restrained Taylor just long enough for Carlos to regain his hold.

The boy on the ground propped himself up on an elbow, wheezing. Carlos's heart pounded faster. Logan was too winded to get up.

Then, Kendall was in front of them. He swung a fist back, his green eyes flashing with fury. He positioned himself to land a punch to Taylor's face, then stopped, breathing hard. Kendall bared his teeth and raised his arm a second time. But, like before, he brought it back down.

Scowling and shaking his head, he dropped down to the ground. He looped Logan's arm around his shoulders and pulled the injured boy to his feet. Logan limped as they hurried down the sidewalk, Kendall acting as Logan's aid.

Taylor never ceased cursing as she trashed her body side to side, like a snarling animal trying to break from its cage.

Carlos's arms were getting sore from hanging on to her for so long, and he knew he couldn't do it forever. Even James looked like he was struggling.

Carlos turned his head, seeing that Logan and Kendall were a safe distance away.

"James, let's go!" Carlos cried. He quickly propelled himself away from Taylor's body, then dashed to the left, hoping James was right beside him.

The two boys sprinted down the sidewalk, panting. Carlos chanced a glance over his shoulder to see if Taylor was following. She wasn't.

"You guys are so dead!" she screamed. "You're going to get it tomorrow!"

Carlos ignored her and kept on running. He and James eventually caught up to Kendall and Logan, who were hobbling up the driveway of Logan's house.

James reached the front door and held it open for the three. Carlos completely forgot about taking off his shoes as he entered the Mitchell residence. He followed Kendall and Logan, who were making their way down the hall to Logan's bedroom. Carlos wasn't sure where Logan's mom was, but he was glad she was no where in sight.

The boys retreated to Logan's room and slammed the door shut. Carlos put a hand over his chest as he willed his racing heart to calm. He pressed his back to Logan's door, somewhat paranoid that Taylor would come in Logan's house and knock it down if he didn't.

Kendall carefully lowered Logan onto the edge of his mattress, sweating from having to drag him halfway down the block. James, on the other hand, nervously paced the floor in front of them.

Carlos hadn't noticed Logan was crying until he looked up and saw the tears in his eyes. Carlos didn't blame him. That girl was a monster. It seemed like she was just picking on them because she had nothing else to do. What sort of sadistic psychopath did that?

Kendall ran his hands through his hair and over his face, obviously flustered. His jaw was set in anger, yet he kept shaking his head as if he was disgusted. "We shouldn't have ran," he muttered. "That doesn't solve anything."

"What choice did we have!" James cried. His forehead was glistening with perspiration. "We couldn't fight back."

Kendall lowered his gaze to the carpet, frustrated with himself. "I tried to hit her," he murmured. "But I couldn't. I just couldn't do it…"

Carlos listened to their conversation, but never took his eyes off Logan. The pale boy sat with both arms hugging his stomach, a few tears escaping down his rosy cheeks.

Kendall finally noticed. He straightened up and slid a comforting arm around Logan's shoulders, pulling the twelve-year-old close to his body. "I'm sorry, Logan."

"N-No," Logan sniffled. "She hurt you guys." He let out a sob. "I'm sorry. A-Are you okay?"

Carlos smiled and stepped away from the door. He reached down and rubbed a hand over his knee, then bended his legs to test it. "I'm fine," he said with a shrug.

James seemingly pulled a mirror and comb out of nowhere. He ran the piece of plastic through his hair, smoothing down the area Taylor had assaulted. "We're okay."

Carlos knew that by 'we', James meant himself and his reflection.

"I'm good," Kendall agreed, rolling his shoulder.

Logan nodded, and his tears began to dry. He leaned into Kendall's side as the blonde asked, "What about you?"

Logan chuckled humorlessly. "She only hit me once."

Carlos stomach did a flip. He wrung his hands together as Kendall exchanged a concerned glance with him and James.

"So what now?" Logan asked, voice hoarse with emotion. "When I get off the bus tomorrow Taylor will be waiting to beat me up again."

"Unless we tell someone," Carlos offered.

Logan wiped at his eyes and sighed. "I just… I just don't want my parents to think I'm… weak."

"Hey," said Kendall. He pulled away from Logan and grabbed both of his shoulders, looking Logan directly in the eye. "You are _not_ weak. And no one here thinks of you like that. Understand?"

Logan looked away. "Okay," he whispered.

Kendall clapped a hand on his back, smirking mischievously. "Besides. I have a plan."

Carlos cheered. "Yay!" He liked it when Kendall had plans.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Ahh, sorry this update took so long! My laptop can't be fixed for another week, and I've been having difficulty finding a computer to type up chapters. Thanks for continuing to read and review. It really means a lot to me. :)**  
**Also, I believe there are going to be two more chapters left after this one. So, our story is coming to a close! Enjoy chapter 7:**

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Chapter 7

Carlos sneaked a spoonful of soup into his mouth. It was warm and thick, with tiny brown chunks floating in the broth. He wasn't quite sure what those things were, but they were chewy and delicious.

"Carlos," Kendall chided. "Stop eating your lunch."

Carlos groaned and let his spoon clatter to his tray. "But I'm so hungry," he whined.

Kendall frowned and handed his friend a banana. "Here."

"Yay!" Carlos eagerly tore off the peel and stuffed half the fruit in his mouth. His stomach thanked him.

Logan looked up from carefully pouring his soup into the plastic bag on his lap. "Do you really think this is going to work?" he asked Kendall.

"Well, I'm hoping that - James! What did I just get done telling Carlos?" Kendall reached across the table and snatched James's spoon out of his hand.

"Come on," James protested. "Just a few bites isn't going to matter."

"Yeah," Carlos agreed. "Can't we just eat a little bit?"

Kendall shook his head. "We need to save our soup." He leaned down and revealed two more plastic bags from his backpack and handed one to Carlos and James. "What's more important? Your stomachs, or teaching Taylor a lesson?"

Carlos rubbed his chin. "Well, if I don't eat I'm going to starve, and then I won't be able to help you get Taylor back. So…"

"Just eat your banana," Kendall said, failing to hide an amused smirk.

Carlos shrugged and took another bite. He chewed slowly, shifting his gaze to Logan. The boy across from him pulled his backpack onto his lap and cautiously secured the bag of soup inside. He took a deep breath, then looked back to the blond.

"Kendall, do you think this'll work?" Logan asked again, hugging his backpack to his chest.

"No," Kendall deadpanned.

Logan let his head drop.

"But," said Kendall, "we have to try something. We can't fight back with our fists, but there's no rule that we can't hit a girl with… whatever this stuff is." He peered into his own bag of soup and made a face.

"It's good," Carlos argued. He finally finished his fruit and tossed the peel aside. He sighed as he decided he might as well conform to the plan and _not_ eat any more yummy soup.

Carlos opened the bag Kendall had given him and positioned his Styrofoam bowl over the top. The soup plopped into the bag, and Carlos nearly dropped it, surprised at the weight.

James did the same, trying to be discreet. A group of girls walked past the lunch table and gave him a look. James turned away, blushing slightly. Carlos waved at them. He didn't see what the big deal was. Carlos and James were just pouring some soup into Ziploc bags. It wasn't the weirdest thing they'd ever done in public.

"But what if it backfires?" Logan said, fidgeting in his seat. "What if this only makes Taylor mad? What if this makes things ten times worse?" He suddenly looked close to tears.

Kendall put his hand on Logan's shoulder. "If it doesn't work, then we'll just think of something else. I promise, Logan, if she ever lays a hand on you again, I'm going to make an exception to the never hit a girl rule."

The corner of Logan's mouth curled upwards. "Okay."

Carlos sealed his bag and handed it to Kendall, grinning lopsidedly. "This is so cool!" he exclaimed, bouncing up and down. "She'll never see it coming!"

James reached over the table and let Logan accept his bag of soup. "I know! I can't wait!"

"Okay, okay," Kendall said. "Let's go over the checklist." He patted his backpack. "We have the soup. James, did you get the Silly String?"

James zipped open his own backpack and held up two cans, flashing Logan an encouraging smile. Logan smiled back.

"And Carlos? Did you bring the eggs?" asked Kendall.

Carlos snapped his fingers and grabbed his blue backpack from his feet. He unzipped the top and looked inside. His stomach dropped to his feet and his grin vanished. "Oops." He poked a finger at the sticky yolk dripping over his history textbook.

Kendall and Logan both slapped their foreheads. James gazed over Carlos's shoulder and laughed.

"That's okay," Kendall sighed. "James, give Carlos a can of Silly String."

James obeyed, handing Carlos a pink can.

"Wait, I don't want this color," Carlos said. "Give me purple."

"No, I get purple. You can have pink."

"But pink is a girl color. Come on, James! You're _Juliet_, remember?" Carlos made a grab for the other can, but James held it high over his head and out of Carlos's reach, sticking out his tongue.

"Oh, does it matter?" Logan scolded.

The two boys immediately ceased their petty dispute. Carlos tucked the pink can away in a side pocket of his backpack, hoping the eggs hadn't soaked through the fabric and spilled into the other compartments. He looked at the clock hanging above the lunchroom, noting it was about time to get to gym class.

"Ready to go, Logan?" he asked, hitching his backpack over his shoulder.

The pale boy nodded. "See you guys on the bus," he said.

"Bye," Kendall and James said in unison.

Logan took a shaky breath as he followed Carlos to dump their soup-less trays in the trash. As confident as Carlos was that Kendall's plan was going to be successful, he had to admit he was a bit anxious himself. It wasn't everyday he ambushed a bully with Silly String and soup.

* * *

Carlos removed his shirt slowly, unable to resist sneaking a glance at Logan. The bruises were still there, but at least none of them were fresh. Several marks on Logan's chest were beginning to yellow as they healed, but they still appeared sore.

"Um, Logan?" said Carlos. "Maybe you should ask Mr. Ross if you can sit out today." He pulled his gym shirt over his head, straightened it, then closed his locker door.

Logan finished getting dressed before he answered. "No, I'm fine."

Carlos sighed. He could still see the expression of pain on Logan's face as he dropped to the floor after being hit by the dodge ball. He wasn't sure what game they were playing in class today, but Carlos didn't want Logan to get injured again. Maybe he could convince Logan to sit on the sidelines.

As the two prepared to leave the locker room, Carlos recited in his mind what he was going to say to Logan. But his friend beat him to speaking.

"Hey, listen," Logan started, turning to face Carlos. He awkwardly scratched at his head. "I have to tell you something."

Carlos shrugged his shoulders. "What?"

Logan exhaled loudly and licked his lips. "Just… I'm sorry. Carlos, I'm really sorry." He timidly looked up and met Carlos's eyes. "I shouldn't have asked you to keep that promise. That was… wrong of me. I'm sorry I forced you not to tell and I'm sorry you're involved in all this." He sighed again and shook his head, frowning. "I'm supposed to be the smart one. I should have thought of a way out of this a long time ago."

Carlos cocked his head to the side. "Well, even smart people need help once in a while."

Logan pursed his lips, thinking.

"And when you do need help, that's what you've got me for," Carlos said with a grin. "Kendall and James, too." He thought that piece of information was pretty obvious. Maybe there were exceptions regarding smart people being smart. Maybe smart people could be stupid sometimes.

Logan nodded. "Yeah," he said, quietly. "Yeah."

They stood silently for a few moments before Carlos gestured to the door. "Ready to go?"

Logan held up a hand. "Wait." He cleared his throat. "I also, you know… Want to say… Thanks." He smiled softly. "Thanks for helping me. And for saving me from Taylor."

Carlos raised his eyebrows. Saving? As in, rescuing? Like the _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ and the _Power Rangers_ did to their friends and fellow citizens?

In retrospect, jumping on Taylor and pinning her arms to her sides was a pretty brave thing to do. And if Carlos wouldn't have latched himself around Taylor, then Logan never would have gotten away.

And the best part was, Carlos hadn't even considered the possible consequences of his actions. He had just done it. Logan was in trouble, and Carlos would have gladly suffered a broken bone or two if it meant saving Logan from any more harm. Just like the Turtles and Rangers would do.

Maybe Carlos _was _on his way to becoming a superhero.

Carlos smirked. He liked the sound of that.

"Thanks," Logan said again. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Carlos, pulling him close for a hug.

Carlos's eyes widened, and he held his hands up. "Um, can I hug you back?" he asked.

Logan laughed and squeezed him tighter, resting his chin on Carlos's shoulder. "Don't worry. It doesn't hurt anymore."

Carlos grinned with relief and relaxed into Logan's embrace. "Good."

They pulled away several seconds later. Logan gave Carlos's shoulder a friendly slap. "Let's go play."

* * *

Carlos liked seeing Logan all smiley and happy.

Gym class went smoothly. The class played tag football, which Carlos had expected to go badly. He was on Logan's team and stuck close to his side the entire game, watching out for any kid who got too aggressive and decided to tackle.

But it was fun. Carlos and Logan's team ended up winning, and Logan even managed to score a touchdown.

Gym class ended, and after some congratulatory high-fives from other classmates, Carlos changed his clothes and made his way to his remaining classes of the day. For a while, he had been so lost in the excitement of gym class sports that he had completely forgotten about what was going to happen after school. Until he had to go to history class, that is.

The teacher told Carlos he would have to pay money for damaging the textbook. Then she asked him how he had possibly managed to spill raw eggs on it in the first place.

Carlos didn't want to lie to his teacher, so he told her the truth. "I put some eggs in my backpack because I was going to throw them at a girl, but then they broke because I kind of forgot that eggs do that."

She asked to speak with Carlos after class. Unfortunately, that couldn't be arranged, because he had to get on the bus to meet the guys as soon as he could. Carlos felt kind of bad, running out of the classroom before the teacher had a chance to call him over. But rescuing Logan from Taylor was much more important than listening to the teacher lecture him about responsibility.

Carlos hurried out of the building and to the school bus. He was surprised to see Kendall, James and Logan already on board. Logan didn't seem as cheery as he had been during gym class. Carlos understood that Logan was nervous about the plan, but Logan should understand that Kendall had promised him that if Taylor ever hurt Logan again, Kendall was going to make an exception to the no hitting girls rule. And when Kendall said he promised, he meant it. No exceptions.

Carlos made his way down the aisle of the bus and slid into the seat next to James. The taller boy had his can of Silly String in his hands, frowning as he attempted to find a way to conceal it on his body.

Kendall flipped around in his seat as Carlos fished around his backpack for his own can. "Put it in your pants," said Kendall.

James looked up and made a face. "What?"

"Well, not _in _your pants, but along the top part."

Carlos actually understood what Kendall was trying to explain. "Oh!" he cried excitedly. "Like bad guys do with their guns on TV."

"Ah," said James, nodding his head. He lifted the tail of his shirt and tucked the can of Silly String in the waistband of his jeans. Then he pulled his shirt back down. If he were to stand, the can would hardly be noticeable.

Carlos did the same. He wondered if his dad ever went undercover. This was probably what it felt like. Except they weren't about to shoot Taylor with a gun, they were going to use a item commonly sold at party stores.

A few more kids filed onto the bus before the engine rumbled and the vehicle began to move.

"How are we going to hide our soup?" Logan asked Kendall. The top of his backpack was unzipped, and he poked a finger inside.

"James and Carlos can shoot the Silly String first," Kendall said. "Taylor will probably be caught off guard, so while she's freaking out we can get the soup out of our backpacks."

"Okay," Logan agreed. He still looked ill at ease. "But, um, what if it doesn't work?"

Kendall gave Logan his famous 'trust me, I got this' look. "Oh, Logie. So pessimistic."

Carlos wasn't sure what that word meant, but Logan thought it was funny, so Carlos laughed too.

The light mood gradually dissipated, and agitation crept in as the bus drew closer to its destination. Carlos craned his neck to see out the window as the vehicle turned a corner. He could see Taylor standing at the bus stop, standing calmly with her arms over her chest like the first time they had met.

He realized that he was much more excited than frightened for the projected encounter. Though, he wasn't sure if it was the thought of revenge that incited his emotions, or just the awareness that he was about to do something generally disproved of. It was hard to imagine his father, who worked to bring criminals to justice, running around with bags of soup and cans of Silly String.

Carlos and James exited the bus first. Both boys gave Logan a reassuring slap to the back as they left. The moment the spring air hit their faces was the moment they locked eyes with the girl standing on the curb.

There was more good in people than bad, and Carlos was blind to everything besides the positives. He liked everyone. With one exception, of course.

Taylor looked exactly as she had yesterday. In fact, she wore the same clothes. She had the same smug look on her face, and stood with the same cocky posture.

Carlos took a few cautions steps forward with James at his side, hoping that Taylor didn't notice the slightly protruding cylindrical can cloaked by his shirt.

Footsteps on the pavement behind alerted him of Kendall and Logan's presence. Carlos and James never tore their stares from Taylor as they listened to the school bus start off for the next stop. The loud rumbling of the engine faded into the distance before Taylor finally spoke.

"Gonna try to run away this time?"

Carlos didn't flinch, despite the iciness in her tone. His fingers were itching to whip out the Silly String and cover her face in pink, tacky foam.

"No," Logan replied stonily.

She smirked. "Good." Then she cracked her knuckles, as if trying to intimidate the four. It wasn't going to work on Carlos. "So which one of you am I going to get to pound first?"

Kendall didn't sound the least bit nervous. In fact, his voice was steady and confident, which only relieved Carlos more. "Before you pound us," Kendall said, "can you at least tell us why you're picking on us?"

Taylor nodded towards Logan. "Because he's annoying."

Carlos raised his eyebrows, unable to resist sharing a glance with James.

"And," Taylor continued, "it's _fun _to beat up know-it-all geeks like him. And since three more of you losers keep showing up, I figure I might as well make the best of it."

Carlos didn't like that answer. And if he didn't like the answer, then Kendall probably hated it.

Nonetheless, his friend sustained his nonchalant composure. "Okay."

Knowing what was coming next, Carlos felt a tiny smile tugging at his lips. He concentrated hard to prevent himself from bouncing up and down on his feet.

Taylor narrowed her eyes in suspicion. But she caught on too late.

"Fire!" Kendall cried.

Moving quickly, Carlos removed the Silly String can from the waistband of his pants and uncapped the top. He took aim and fired, ropes of pink and purple simultaneously making contact with their target.

Carlos and James were giggling uncontrollably as Taylor screamed and held up her hands to shield her face from the string. Carlos maneuvered to the side to get a new angle, hearing the rustling of Kendall and Logan's backpacks as they fumbled for their bags of soup inside.

"You are so _dead_!" Taylor screeched. Ignoring the colorful substance draping over her hair and clothes, she lunged forward, reaching out to grab Carlos.

"Ah!" he cried in alarm. He sidestepped away and pressed the button on the top of the can, sending pink string to cover her face.

Taylor gasped and spun around, clawing it away. Carlos began laughing again as he gave her back a nice coat of pink, letting James go to the other side of Taylor and spray her torso and face.

"Taylor!" Kendall shouted.

She blindly swiped at James, missed, then whipped around to Kendall.

_Splat!_

The plastic bag exploded. Chunks of cold, thick soup spattered her front, lumpy bits caking in her hair and most probably ruining her black shirt.

Taylor screamed again, followed by some more naughty words that Carlos was never allowed to say. She brought her fists up to rub her eyes clear of the school's lunch, seemingly ignoring Carlos and James, who continued to empty their cans.

Then, a second bag soared through the air. Taylor gasped in surprise before it smacked her right on the side of the head, bursting open and oozing down her body.

Kendall cupped his hands around his mouth. "Retreat!"

Carlos and James immediately abandoned their Silly String cans and bolted away, following behind Kendall and Logan. Carlos laughed harder when he saw that Logan was in stitches.

The boys flew down the sidewalk, en route to Logan's house. Carlos moved as fast as he could, sneaking a quick glance over his shoulder to see if Taylor was following. She stood motionlessly where they had left her, dumbstruck.

"I can't believe we just did that!" Logan giggled, slowing his run to a jog.

James was grinning ear-to-ear. "Did you see her face?"

"No," said Kendall, "it was covered in soup!"

More laughter.

"Hey, Logan," said Carlos. "What's Taylor's name in military alphabet?"

Logan gave him a strange look. "Huh?"

"Quick! What is it?"

"Uh, Tango Alpha Yankee -"

Carlos turned back around and faced the figure in the distance. "YOU'RE A TANGO!"

The boys somehow managed to make it to Logan's front yard before Logan collapsed to the grass, laughing so hard that he clutched his hands to his stomach. Carlos joined him moments later, his backpack hitting the lawn before his body did. Then Kendall and James were plopping down next to the two boys, and they laughed and laughed and laughed, not only out of amusement, but of relief.

"Now she knows not to mess with us anymore," Kendall said between guffaws.

Carlos rolled onto his back, unable to stop smiling. He kept picturing the shocked look on Taylor's face, as well as the soup and Silly String that layered her body so heavily that she was practically unrecognizable.

Beside him, Logan pulled himself upright, wiping away tears caused by his hysterics. "Now we just have to hope this didn't anger her even more or provoke her to rally an all-girl gang to help her beat us up again."

Kendall, James and Carlos ceased their merriment.

"What?" Logan asked them.

"Way to ruin the moment, Logan," James muttered, though he was still smiling.

Kendall shoved Logan in the side. "Pessimist."

Carlos still didn't know what that word meant.

* * *

The boys spent a couple hours at Logan's house, indulging in some of Mrs. Mitchell's chocolate chip cookies as celebration for their apparent victory. (Of course, they didn't tell her that.) They played video games in the living room for a while, until Carlos figured he had better get home in time for dinner.

He stepped inside his house and tossed his backpack on the floor, deciding to keep his helmet on for now. The first thing he noticed when he entered was that the kitchen light was off.

"Dad?" Carlos called. Still jubilant from the previous events, he skipped down the hall and peered into the kitchen. Mr. Garcia was just making his way to the light switch. He was still wearing his uniform.

"Did you just get home?" Carlos asked him. He hopped to the fridge and pulled open the door. He didn't really want to have juice, because that reminded him of Friday when he had tried to talk to Kendall and ended up crying and hiding under his bed. So Carlos settled on milk instead. Milk had happy memories.

He withdrew the carton and set in on the counter, then stopped, realizing his dad hadn't answered him yet.

"Dad," Carlos said again.

Mr. Garcia had his hands on his hips, facing the other direction. His posture was stiff and rigid, like maybe he had a bad day. Naturally, that only made Carlos more curious.

He was about to ask his father what happened to make him crabby, when Mr. Garcia finally replied to the aforementioned question.

"Yes, I did just get home."

"Oh. Okay," Carlos said. He stood on his tip-toes to reach a glass from the cupboard.

Mr. Garcia cleared his throat. "I got a call a few hours ago. Went over to the Greene's house."

The way he said it made it seem like he expected Carlos to know who he was talking about. But Carlos had never heard of the Greenes before. "Who's that?" He finally seized hold of a cup and began pouring his milk inside.

"Oh, you don't know them?" Mr. Garcia said.

Carlos capped the milk and replaced it in the fridge. "Nope. Not familiar." When he turned to look at his father, he saw that Mr. Garcia had a vein bulging on his forehead. That usually only happened if he was really angry about something. Carlos often wondered what would happen if he could poke the line on his father's head. It would probably explode like the bags of soup.

He stifled a giggle as he raised his glass to his lips and took a sip.

Mr. Garcia smiled. But it wasn't a very amiable looking smile. "Ah. Well, that's a relief then. Because you know what Mr. Greene told me?"

Carlos shrugged. "Um, no?" He took another drink of milk.

Mr. Garcia paced the kitchen floor, speaking casually. "He said he came home from work and found his daughter covered in Silly String and some strange substance that was possibly soup."

Carlos choked on his milk. He coughed and sputtered, spitting what remained in his mouth back into his cup.

"Mr. Greene said that his daughter, Taylor, was attacked by four boys," Mr. Garcia continued. With his hands once again on his hips, his biceps appeared brawny and powerful. He lifted his chin in the air and puffed out his chest, making Carlos feel about two inches tall. "But it's okay, because they gave a description."

Carlos gulped.

Despite his frightening appearance, Mr. Garcia kept speaking pleasantly. "One was blond with bushy eyebrows, one had unusually great hair, one had a pocket protector," he lowered his voice dramatically, features darkening, "and one had a helmet."

Carlos was momentarily too stunned to speak. He finally reached up and flipped his helmet off his head. "W-Well, th-that could be anyone," he stammered, forcing a laugh.

Mr. Garcia narrowed his eyes. "And _why _did I get a call this afternoon from your history teacher telling me you owe sixty five dollars for a new textbook?"

"Oh yeah," said Carlos. "That reminds me. We're out of eggs."

Mr. Garcia took several intimidating steps forward, his tall shadow casting over Carlos. Carlos squeaked at the look on his father's face. Mr. Garcia's eyes got that crazed look in them that only appeared when he was ready to attack a criminal. "Got anything you want to confess?"

Carlos stared at him. "Uh." He threw his milk glass over his head and screamed. "AAAAHHH!" Scooping his helmet from the floor, Carlos darted out of the kitchen as fast as his feet could move. His dad hollered at him to come back, but there was no way that was going to happen.

Carlos secured his helmet as he barreled up the stairs, shrieking the entire way up. He dove into his room and slammed the door shut.

His father's heavy footsteps were heard stomping up the stairs, like a giant monster coming to devour his soul.

Monsters!

Carlos dropped to the ground and scurried under his bed, failing to consider the possibility of sticking to the floor due to the mess underneath. His heart hammered so loudly in his chest that he wondered if his dad could hear it from in the hall.

Carlos nearly cried out as the door flew open with such force that it bounced off the wall. Mr. Garcia must have had Carlos figured out pretty well, because he immediately fell to his knees and looked under the bed, causing Carlos to scream yet again.

"Boy, you had better come out of there right now!" Mr. Garcia roared.

Carlos chuckled nervously. "See, I think that would be a bad idea…"

"_Carlos_!"

"Ah!" He flopped over, rolling out from underneath the bed. He popped up on the opposite side of his father, figuring that if he didn't, Mr. Garcia would just lift the bed off the floor and throw it to the side, and that would just cause more problems.

Mr. Garcia was breathing hard, obviously enraged.

"Okay, okay!" Carlos cried. "Before you scream at me anymore, you have to know that Taylor is really mean and she beat up Logan, and she's also a girl so we couldn't fight her back, so that's why we had to use Silly String and soup, because Kendall says we can hit her with those things, just not our fists because there's no exceptions to that rule, besides when Kendall promised Logan he would -"

"Wait, wait, wait," Mr. Garcia interrupted, holding up a hand. "What about this girl and Logan?"

Carlos began to relax as he saw his father's expression soften a bit. "Taylor was beating Logan up after school," he explained. "He's got bruises all over from where she's hit him. And me and Logan and James and Kendall were going to go beat her up, but then we found out she's actually a girl so we couldn't, so we got Silly String and soup instead."

Mr. Garcia stared at his son for a long moment. Carlos shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, hoping another vicious reprimanding wasn't on the way.

"Come on," Mr. Garcia said after about a minute of silence.

Carlos didn't move. "What?"

His father marched to the other side of the bed and grabbed Carlos's arm. Mr. Garcia began to tug him out of the room and to the stairs. "Where're we going, Dad?" Carlos wondered.

Mr. Garcia didn't turn around. "Logan's house."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: My laptop is finally fixed! Yay!**  
**Thank you guys so much for being patient with me. Double thanks to those reviewing. I really appreciate it. I believe there will be one more chapter after this one, and although I do have my computer back, school work is a priority, so please keep that in mind when waiting for the next update. Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D**

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Chapter 8

"I'm sorry," Carlos said again.

"It's okay," Logan replied for the twentieth time.

But it wasn't okay. He didn't want to watch, but was compelled to anyway. Carlos covered his eyes with his hands, peeking through his fingers at the sight before him. He stood back in the entrance to Logan's house, gazing into the living room at his friend and father.

Logan wasn't crying, but he looked close. His body was trembling, and his normally soft brown eyes were wide and kept darting between Mr. Garcia and Mrs. Mitchell.

Carlos felt tears sting his own eyes. He hated seeing people cry, especially adults. And Mrs. Mitchell was a nervous wreck. She paced back and fourth over the threshold of the living room and the kitchen, running her hands over her pretty hair and occasionally letting out a sob or two.

He wished he never would have said anything to his dad. Taylor had gotten ambushed and probably wasn't going to bother them ever again. Carlos could have just let his dad yell and scream and lecture him for a few hours, and maybe suffer through being grounded for a while. It would have been better than this.

Logan stood in the center of the room, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts. Mr. Garcia kneeled in front of the boy, examining the many injuries dotting Logan's pale skin.

It turned out Logan had a lot more bruises than Carlos knew.

"How about this one?" Mr. Garcia asked, gesturing to a purple mark along Logan's collar bone. Mr. Garcia's voice was soft and fatherly, which Carlos didn't hear very often, mainly because nothing bad ever happened where Mr. Garcia would need to act so tender. The tone in which his father spoke was meant to be comforting, but the unusualness of it rendered the opposite effects for Carlos.

"She hit me there one time," Logan explained.

"With her fists?" Mr. Garcia asked.

Logan nodded. "Yeah."

Carlos squeaked and covered his ears, feeling alone as he stood in the far corner of the room. He didn't like this. He wanted to leave. He wasn't sure if he should feel sad, or afraid, or guilty or angry, but he hated this. Which was ironic, in a way, because Carlos loved everything.

But watching Logan awkwardly stand there was frightening and made him sick to his stomach. And seeing his father show a rare display of sensitivity and seeing Mrs. Mitchell cry was bad, bad, bad. Because those things weren't supposed to happen. Mrs. Mitchell should bake cookies and be all nice and happy, and Mr. Garcia should be a playful father, not a serious one.

Carlos started crying again, and he realized that crying was another thing he didn't care for very much. Luckily, no one seemed to notice him.

Mr. Garcia gingerly took hold of one of Logan's arms. Logan didn't resist, and Mr. Garcia tentatively ran a finger over one of the scratches. "Has she ever used a weapon, Logan?"

Mrs. Mitchell cried even harder. She placed a hand over her mouth, probably because she didn't want to upset her son, and spun out of the room. But Carlos could still hear her in the kitchen.

It was scary because grownups weren't supposed to cry, except for in movies. But movies, as Carlos had discovered, were not real. Besides _Titanic_. That one was a true story, apparently. And since _Titanic_ was based on actual events, that meant that the people who cried in that movie had cried in real life. Which was not good.

Logan shook his head. "No." He held up both his arms for Carlos's dad to see. "These are from her fingernails."

Mr. Garcia swallowed and nodded.

Carlos could feel hot tears fall down his cheeks, though he managed to keep quiet. He figured maybe if he didn't make another noise, everyone would forget about him standing solitarily to the side, and they would leave. Then Carlos could go hide somewhere and cry and make as much noise as he wanted to.

"And this one," Logan said, pointing to a discoloration on his right shoulder, "is from when she shoved me into a tree." Logan showed off another bruise on his side. "Then she hit me here."

He spoke so nonchalantly about everything, and Carlos wasn't sure why. Then Logan looked over his shoulder to the kitchen, no doubt trying to find his mom.

Mr. Garcia put both hands gently on Logan's bare shoulders and slowly rotated him around. Thankfully, Logan's back wasn't as wounded as the rest of his body.

"There's a few small marks here," Mr. Garcia observed. "She hit you there, too?"

"Yeah," Logan replied. He seemed to remember exactly how each bruise had been inflicted upon him. "Except the one in the middle. She pushed me down one time and I fell on a sharp rock."

Mr. Garcia heaved a sigh and guided Logan back around. At the same time, Mrs. Mitchell reemerged from the kitchen, this time with red-rimmed eyes and a tissue in her hand.

"Why didn't you tell an adult about this, son?" Mr. Garcia asked Logan.

Logan had been free of tears before, but at Carlos's father's question, his eyes misted over and he lowered his head, blushing. "'Cause…"

"Because he didn't want anyone to know a girl was beating him up!" Carlos blurted out. Everyone turned to look at him, and he quickly clapped a hand over his mouth and shrunk back, hoping to go back to being unnoticed.

Mr. Garcia twisted around to once again face the child he was kneeling in front of. "That's no reason to be ashamed," he said. "A bully is a bully."

Logan sniffled, crying a little more this time. "Mr. Garcia, I did a bad thing."

Mrs. Mitchell finally crossed the room and squatted down beside the two. She put a hand under Logan's chin, coaxing him to look at her. "What is it, sweetheart?"

Carlos whimpered. If he would have just kept his mouth shut, then nobody would be crying. It was all his fault, he knew it was.

Logan started gasping between his words, obviously trying to fight away sobs that desperately wanted to come. "I - I - I…" he started. "I m-made Carlos pr - pr - promise n-not to tell."

Carlos snapped to attention, forgetting about his plan to stay quiet. "It's okay, Logan. Remember? You said you were sorry already."

"But y-you didn't forgive me," Logan sobbed.

Carlos was confused. "Yeah I did."

Logan sniffled a few times, trying to pull himself together. "Th-Then why are y-you crying?"

Carlos brought a hand up and swiped it across his cheeks. "Oh. Uh. I don't know."

Mrs. Mitchell made a strange noise that sounded kind of like another sob, and she threw her arms around Logan's shoulders and hugged him tightly. She was sniveling again, but Carlos decided that maybe this time it was okay, because Logan was hugging her back, and that seemed to make her feel better.

Carlos barely noticed that Mr. Garcia had stood from his spot on the floor. He walked over to Carlos, and Carlos quickly looked away, not wanting his dad to see him shed tears. Mr. Garcia never cried, and neither did superheroes, so Carlos didn't want to cry either.

A warm hand cupped his cheek. Carlos blinked, more tears escaping his eyes. "Hey," his dad murmured. The hand wasn't leaving, so Carlos shyly looked up, flushing red.

Mr. Garcia gave him a tiny smirk and used his thumb to wipe away the tears on Carlos's face. Then he gave his son an affectionate nudge to the shoulder.

Carlos bucked up and sniffled as his father stepped back. He felt better again.

When Carlos gazed back to the living room, he saw that Mrs. Mitchell was kissing Logan's face all over, and neither of them were crying anymore. Logan had several pink lipstick prints on his forehead and his cheek, but he didn't seem to mind.

Mrs. Mitchell finally pulled away from him and handed Logan his clothes, asking him if he needed help getting dressed. Logan said no, and began to tug on his pants and shirt.

Mr. Garcia, clad in his police uniform, put his hands on his hips. "Logan, this is your call. How do you want me to fix this?"

Logan shrugged as he buttoned his shirt. "Um… Taylor should tell me she's sorry."

Mr. Garcia looked surprised. "That's it? Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I don't want her to go to jail or anything."

Carlos didn't really understand why Logan was being so lenient. Sure, Logan was a kind and forgiving sort of person, but Taylor had been vicious. Carlos would have told his dad to send Taylor to the brig and throw away the key. Then they could be sure she wouldn't hurt anyone ever again.

"Alright, then," Mr. Garcia sighed. He unclipped the sunglasses hanging from his collar and slipped them on. "Let's go."

Logan's eyes widened as he finished getting dressed. "What? We're going to her house?"

"Yep," Mr. Garcia said casually.

Logan appeared a little nervous. "Why can't she just write me an apology letter instead?" he asked.

"Nothing is going to happen to you," Mr. Garcia assured. "You'll be right beside me the entire time."

Logan looked up to his mother. Mrs. Mitchell bended down and kissed his head. "I think you should go."

"I get to come too, right, Dad?" Carlos said.

"That's right."

"Cool!" Carlos exclaimed. "Come on, Logan! We'll get to ride in the police car together!" Mr. Garcia had taken the cruiser over, but sharing the car with Logan would be much more fun for Carlos rather than sitting in there by himself.

"Well, okay…" Logan hesitantly agreed. Carlos cheered as Logan shuffled towards the door. The two boys stood patiently as Mr. Garcia and Mrs. Mitchell spoke quietly to one another.

Logan wiped his face clean of his mother's lipstick while they waited. When Mr. Garcia came back over, he opened the front door and the three of them stepped outside, Logan giving his mom a wave goodbye.

The boys piled into the car. Logan's eyes were wide with wonderment as he examined the interior of the vehicle.

"Dad, how come we're driving to Taylor's house?" Carlos asked. After all, Taylor only lived on the other end of the block.

"It looks more intimidating this way," Mr. Garcia replied, slipping his keys into the ignition. As the car started, a crackling noise was heard on the radio by the dashboard. Mr. Garcia reached up and flipped a switch on the machine, and the static stopped.

"Cool," Logan marveled. "Is that what you use to talk to the other officers?"

"Sure is," said Mr. Garcia, buckling his seatbelt.

"Does it play music, too?" wondered Logan. "Or is it just for communication?"

Carlos grinned. He liked getting rides in his dad's police car. It made Carlos feel like a police officer, too.

"This one doesn't." Mr. Garcia hit a few more buttons and cranked on a knob. "But this one does."

An announcer came on the radio as Mr. Garcia backed out of the driveway. " -_ now, producer Gustavo Rocque is back in the news with his latest project, BoyQuake. According to Rocque, the band will no longer be recording music, as all four members have allegedly moved to Canada to live among the moose. It's not certain what caused BoyQuake's sudden decision, but sources tell us this isn't the first time a band has abruptly departed Rocque Records. Lead singer of Boyz in the Attic said Gustavo Rocque's 'constant verbal abuse' and 'anger management issues' caused their band to split back in '94..."_

"Wow," said Carlos. "I hope when James gets famous he doesn't work for a guy like that."

"Yeah," Logan agreed.

BoyQuake's hit single 'Girl, U R My World,' began to boom through the speakers. Carlos actually liked the song, but he only got to listen to a few lyrics before they arrived at their destination.

Mr. Garcia pulled into the driveway of Taylor's house. He cut the engine and stuffed his keys into his pocket. Securing his helmet, he stepped out of the car.

Carlos unclipped his seatbelt and grabbed for the door handle, but Logan didn't move. Carlos was pretty sure he knew why. "You don't have to be scared, Logan," Carlos assured. "My dad will protect you from Taylor. And so will I." He patted his helmet.

Logan nodded. "I know. It's just…" He trailed off, sighing.

Carlos tilted his head to the side, confused. "Just what?"

Logan was silent for a few moments. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but then closed it again. He finally removed his seatbelt and pushed open the door. "Nothing. Let's go."

Carlos shrugged and stepped outside. Mr. Garcia waited patiently for the two to exit the vehicle. His white helmet was on his head and his dark sunglasses were tucked into the breast pocket of his shirt. He looked ready to apprehend some criminals.

"Stay close to me, boys," Mr. Garcia ordered, pulling Logan to his right side and Carlos to his left. "And let me do all the talking."

"Are you going to shoot someone?" Carlos asked, suddenly becoming a little nervous.

"Or beat someone up?" Logan wondered.

Mr. Garcia chuckled. "Probably not." He gave the boys each encouraging pats to the back and started forward.

Carlos felt a little uneasy, being so close to Taylor's house. It was two stories high, with chipping green paint. Carlos hadn't noticed from far away, but up close he could see that there were still Christmas lights wrapped around a bush next to the front steps.

Mr. Garcia knocked so loudly on the door that Carlos thought he heard the wood crack. He peered up at his dad, admiring how confident and relaxed Mr. Garcia appeared.

The door handle twisted, and Carlos's heartbeat quickened. But the man who answered didn't look very frightening.

"Yeah?" the guy said. He was about the same height as Carlos's dad, with dark hair slicked back, and a tie hanging loosely around his neck. He had a bit of a five o'clock shadow, and didn't exactly look very strong and powerful. Carlos had expected some huge wrestler with biceps the circumference of his head. But this guy looked like a weary businessman.

"Mr. Greene," Mr. Garcia said. "I am Officer Garcia, and these are my boys, Carlos and Logan. Is your daughter home?"

Mr. Greene narrowed his eyes at the two boys. Carlos glared, straightening up and standing tall like his father, but Logan shrunk back behind Mr. Garcia. "These are some of the kids who threw that stuff at Taylor?"

"She had it coming," Carlos responded simply.

Mr. Garcia squeezed Carlos's shoulder, and he yelped before he remembered he was supposed to stay quiet.

"Yes," Mr. Garcia said. He was talking all nice and friendly again, and it made Carlos recall how his father had spoken before the two had went over to Logan's house. "And if you'll go get your daughter, we can set this whole matter straight."

Mr. Greene didn't look too happy. Still, he gave a gruff nod and stepped aside for Mr. Garcia, Carlos and Logan to enter.

Taylor's house smelled funny. It reminded Carlos of the scent of leftover spaghetti mixed with the smell of a garage. He wrinkled his nose, sticking close to his father's side. A few stray articles of clothing were strewn about the dimly-lit living room, and stacks of dirty plates and glasses cluttered the coffee table in front of the TV. Off to the right was a kitchen, and Carlos could see a stack of dishes sitting next to the sink. To the left was a dark hall that deep into the house, and up ahead beyond the living room was a staircase.

There was no mat on the floor for Carlos to wipe his shoes. He doubted it mattered, though, because the white carpet was so stained and dotted with dirt and spills that a few muddy footprints probably wouldn't make a difference.

"Taylor, get down here," Mr. Greene called. He wandered further into the living room and leaned against the back of an armchair. "You didn't catch the other kids who did this?" he asked.

Mr. Garcia's hands never left the young boys at his sides. "Well, Mr. Greene, I actually came over here for a different reason."

Mr. Greene raised an eyebrow. Loud, heavy footsteps were heard barreling down the stairs. Then, Taylor appeared. Her hat was off her head, showing off stringy, tousled blonde hair. She was also wearing what appeared to be pajamas; flannel pants and an oversized t-shirt. Carlos expected she had had to shower after the 'incident'.

Out of the corner of his eye, Carlos saw Logan scoot a bit behind Mr. Garcia, like he was trying to hide himself from Taylor.

"What?" Taylor mumbled, slouching into the living room. She stopped and her eyes widened when she noticed the officer and two boys standing in the entryway.

"That her, son?" Mr. Garcia asked.

Carlos crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah, that's her."

Mr. Greene exchanged a glance with his daughter, who Carlos thought looked a little nervous.

"Mr. Greene, are you aware of what Taylor is doing after school?" Mr. Garcia asked.

Taylor quickly turned to her father. "I stay home after school."

"She's lying!" Logan cried, pointing his finger. Taylor shot him a glare, but this time Logan didn't back down.

Carlos did get angry too often, but it really frustrated him that Taylor would lie so casually in front of them all. And she was a skilled liar, too. The way she uttered her words was so calm and practiced that it was slightly unnerving.

Mr. Greene crossed his arms. They looked a little bigger when he did that, and Carlos wondered if the man was just trying to show off his muscles. "What are you talking about?"

Mr. Garcia abandoned his friendly act, face reddening with anger. He pointed an accusatory finger at Mr. Greene, removing his hand from Carlos's shoulder to do so. "Your daughter has been hurting this boy!"

Mr. Greene blinked and shook his head. "Excuse me?"

"Was I not clear? Your. Daughter. Is. Hurting. This. Boy!" He clapped Logan on the back.

Carlos cringed at how loud his dad's voice was. But it must have been pretty effective, because Mr. Greene looked immensely confused. He rotated around to his daughter. "What's he talking about?"

Taylor threw her hands up. "I have no idea! I swear."

Carlos held his tongue. Logan didn't say anything, either.

"Look, Officer," started Mr. Greene, "all I know is I came home from work about an hour ago, and my kid was covered in goop. When I asked her about it, she told me she was assaulted by four boys. So, I called the police to investigate this crime. I did not call you over here to have you accuse my kid of hurting the boys who did this to her." Mr. Greene advanced, holding his chin up in the air.

Carlos shrunk back behind his father. He decided Mr. Greene was pretty scary after all.

Mr. Garcia took a sharp intake of breath, then reached to his side and took hold of Logan's arm. Despite his obvious rage, he gently pulled back one of Logan's sleeves. "Logan tells me that Taylor has been hurting him for weeks now on his way home from school," Mr. Garcia snarled. "Just look at these bruises. This is what your kid has been doing to mine."

Carlos blinked in confusion. "Dad, I'm not hurt."

Mr. Garcia briefly closed his eyes in irritation. "I meant Logan, son."

Mr. Greene leaned forward, squinting in the dull light of the room to see the purple marks on Logan's skin. He scratched at his head, then spoke to his daughter without tearing his eyes away from Logan's injuries. "Taylor? This true? You hurt this kid?"

"This kid has a name," Mr. Garcia said.

"Sorry," murmured the other father, giving the officer a quick glare. "Logan."

Taylor groaned. "No way! I've never touched him." She ran her hands through her already messy hair, showing clear signs of edginess. "I mean, I've seen him walk home from school and stuff, but I've never laid a hand on him. I always come straight home after school, start my homework, and make dinner. That's all."

She was awfully convincing. It made Carlos ball his hands into fists.

Mr. Greene stepped back, holding out his hands. He spoke sternly. "Officer, if my kid says she didn't do anything, then she didn't do anything."

Carlos glanced over at Logan, who was looking timid again. He shyly pulled down his shirt sleeve and huddled closer to Mr. Garcia.

"We have three witnesses and the bruises to prove it!" Mr. Garcia cried, deep voice booming. "Your daughter's fingernail marks are all over Logan's arm. You know why these boys threw those things at Taylor? Because they couldn't fight back. They felt cornered and defenseless, because they know that hitting girls is wrong. Hitting _anyone_ is wrong." He pointed his finger again. "And let me tell you, Mr. Greene, if I ever see your daughter near these boys again, I will not be lenient. The only reason she isn't in the back of my squad car right now is because Logan wants to give her a second chance."

Carlos wanted to cheer. His dad was a little scary when he talked like that, but all his anger was directed at the Greenes, so it didn't make Carlos feel as afraid.

Taylor took a step backwards. Mr. Greene, on the other hand, looked offended. "So you're not going to do anything about this?" he asked. "You're not going to punish these punks for -"

Mr. Greene didn't have a chance to finish his sentence. Mr. Garcia roared and lunged forward, snatching the collar of Mr. Greene's shirt and whipping him to the side. Mr. Garcia charged towards the wall, pinning Mr. Greene flat against it. "You don't get to call them that."

Carlos instantly jumped closer to Logan. They were completely vulnerable without Carlos's father standing protectively in front of them. And he needed to make sure Logan stayed safe.

Luckily, Taylor was paying no mind to Carlos and Logan at the door. She gasped and covered her mouth at the sight of her dad getting held against the wall.

Mr. Greene's face was beet red, probably from either embarrassment or from fury. He wiggled his body a bit, then realized there was no way he was powerful enough to break free of a police officer's sturdy grip. He breathed hard.

Mr. Garcia stared into the man's eyes for a long moment before turning his head to look over his shoulder. When his glower fell on Taylor, she jumped slightly. "You better apologize right now, or I haul you off to a juvenile detention center."

From beside Carlos, Logan snickered. He was probably looking at the fearful expression on Taylor's face. Carlos smirked as well.

"Alright, fine," Taylor grumbled. "I won't do it again, okay?"

Mr. Garcia loosened his grip around Mr. Greene. "And?"

"Sorry."

She didn't sound too sincere, but it must have been good enough for Mr. Garcia. Mr. Greene twisted away, panting. He gave a vicious glare, then pointed to the door. "Get out of my house," he demanded.

Mr. Garcia's anger seemed to lessen a bit. "Ah, but you were the one who called me over."

Mr. Greene turned to his daughter. She met his eyes for a moment, then lowered her head. "Get upstairs," he said. Taylor obeyed, retreating back to the staircase without another word. "You need to leave," Mr. Greene said again, refocusing his attention to the adult.

Mr. Garcia licked his lips and nodded. "Logan? Anything else you want to add?"

Logan stepped a little closer to Carlos. "No, sir."

"Alright then," Mr. Garcia said, clapping his hands together like it was a job well done. "Let's go, boys." He approached the two children at the door, putting his hands on their backs and guiding them out of the strange smelling house.

Carlos sucked in a mouthful of fresh air and hopped down the front steps, feeling successful. It had definitely gone better than he had anticipated. Even Logan seemed a little jubilant; he was smirking as he made his way to the side door of the vehicle.

Mr. Greene stepped outside as well, crossing his arms as he waited for Mr. Garcia to get in the car and drive away. But Mr. Garcia stopped, casting his eyes to the street. Carlos followed his gaze, wondering what he was looking at.

"That your car?" Mr. Garcia called to Mr. Greene, gesturing to the vehicle parked on the curb of the street.

"Yeah," replied Mr. Greene, eyeing the officer suspiciously.

Mr. Garcia slowly approached the red Cadillac while Logan and Carlos waited patiently. Mr. Garcia reached for something in his pocket. "The sign there says no parking Monday through Friday from six AM to six PM." He clicked a pen and began scribbling on a notepad. "It's a Tuesday, Mr. Greene." Then he looked at his wristwatch. "Oh, and look at the time. Five fifty-nine." Mr. Garcia slapped a yellow piece of paper onto the windshield of the car. "Have a nice day."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Well, here's the final chapter. Thanks, everyone, for reading and reviewing and sticking with me. You guys gave me the motivation to get this story finished. Thanks again! I love you all! I suppose now that I'm done with this story, I'll get back to work on a large project again. I still need to decide which one. Eh, I'll get it done eventually. :D**  
**Anyway, this is kinda a short chapter to wrap everything up. I hope you enjoy the final chapter of 'Exception.'**

* * *

Chapter 9

"And then he said 'have a nice day' and gave Mr. Greene a parking ticket!" Logan laughed.

Kendall and James were in stitches as they listened to Logan and Carlos recount yesterday's events. Carlos allowed Logan to tell most of the story, since Logan was all giddy and giggling uncontrollably. Carlos liked it when Logan laughed. It made him forget about the times when Logan cried.

"Then what happened?" James asked excitedly. Both his lunch and Kendall's lunch remained untouched, as the two boys had been so absorbed in Logan's account of what had happened at Taylor's house to bother eating the corndogs on their trays.

Logan's face fell just a bit. "Well, then Mr. Garcia took me and Carlos back to my house. My dad was home from work by then, so we had to explain what happened. Then I had to show him all my bruises and stuff and Carlos went home."

Kendall's smile disappeared. "What'd your dad say?"

Logan shrugged his shoulders. "Pretty much what Carlos's dad said. That a bully is a bully, boy or girl." He looked down. "And that I should have told an adult right away."

Kendall nodded and narrowed his eyes, like he was pondering something.

Their mirth abruptly ended, and the four boys sat quietly in the school cafeteria for a minute or two. James finally picked up his corndog and took a bite, chewing slowly. Carlos's tray was already empty, because corndogs were the best food ever, and he had devoured his before he had even made it to the table.

Kendall finally looked back up. He was smirking this time. "You know what we need to do?" he said. "We need to promise that the next time one of us is hurt, we tell someone right away."

"Sounds good to me," James murmured through a mouthful of food.

Carlos, however, wasn't so sure. He had just discovered a few days ago that there were exceptions to promises. And if promises had exceptions, then that meant anyone could promise anything and then break the promise, only it wouldn't technically count as a broken promise because of the exception.

His head hurt, trying to make sense of the whole exception thing. And what if there were exceptions to the exceptions? Or exceptions to the exceptions of exceptions? It was a confusing paradox.

"No," Carlos muttered. "I don't want to promise that."

All heads turned to him, even Logan's. Carlos cast his eyes to the floor and shrunk back under his friends' gazes.

"Why not?" Kendall asked.

"Because," Carlos sighed. "It won't even matter. There's always going to be an exception."

Logan took a sip of his milk. "What do you mean?"

"I promised you I wouldn't tell that someone was hurting you," Carlos explained. Then he looked to Kendall. "Then _you_ told me it was okay to break a promise if someone was getting hurt. You said there were exceptions. And apparently there's exceptions to all kinds of stuff. So if we all promise that the next time one of us is getting hurt we have to tell someone right away, it's not even going to matter, because there will always be a stupid exception somewhere. So promising something would just be pointless." His throat was getting tight again, so he coughed.

James looked confused, but Kendall nodded his head. "Okay."

Carlos raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected Kendall to agree with him. He didn't _want_ Kendall to agree with him. Carlos was hoping that Kendall would prove him wrong, or tell Carlos of a new rule that Carlos hadn't heard about.

But no. Kendall said nothing else and went back to eating his lunch.

Carlos frowned. Whatever. It didn't matter, anyway. He would know if Logan or anyone else was getting hurt. All he had to do was keep a sharp eye out for anything suspicious. Carlos examined Kendall. The blond abandoned his half-eaten corndog and started digging into his fruit cup. James had his milk carton up to his lips, and Logan was -

Carlos rocketed out of his seat, heart nearly leaping out of his chest. He stuck out a finger and pointed furiously to the boy sitting beside him. "LOGAN'S HURT!" he shrieked. "LOOK LOOK LOOK LOOK LOOK LOOK -"

Logan held his hands out at his sides, blushing from the stares other kids at the table cast his way. "What are you _talking _about?"

Carlos was frantic. This was bad. Really bad. Logan wasn't supposed to be hurt anymore. Carlos had saved him from Taylor, and Mr. Garcia had threatened to put her in jail. She wasn't supposed to be bothering Logan. Everything was supposed to be fine again. "RIGHT THERE! RIGHT THERE! LOOK! KENDALL KENDALL KENDALL LOOK! JAMES! AHHH!"

Kendall and James tried to shush Carlos as Logan yanked on the sleeve of his sweatshirt to get him to sit. But Carlos didn't want to sit. His eyes were wide in horror, hands shaking in fear. Logan held him down by keeping his hands firmly on Carlos's shoulders.

"What?" James asked. "What's wrong?"

"Logan's hand!" Carlos cried, lowering his voice just a bit. "Look at it!"

Logan's brow furrowed together in confusion. He looked down at both his palms. When he did, his expression softened. "Oh, this?" He held up his index finger, showing off a Band-aid. "I got a paper cut this morning."

Carlos let out a breath of relief. "Phew," he said. That was a close call. He closed his eyes and exhaled again, aiming to soothe his jittery nerves. When he opened them, Kendall, James and Logan were staring at him. "What?"

"…Nothing," they said.

Carlos shrugged. He glanced up at the clock and noticed that it was about time to get going to his next class. "Ready to go?" he asked Logan.

Logan shook his head, like he was clearing away his thoughts. Then he nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

"See you on the bus," Kendall said as the boys picked up their trays and prepared to leave.

"Bye," James said.

Carlos and Logan both said their farewells. They went through the normal routine of disposing of their trash and returning their trays. The two exited the lunchroom and took a left, starting off down the hall to the locker room.

Carlos reached the door first and held it open for Logan. He stopped. Logan wasn't there. Carlos peered down the hall, thankful when he saw his friend bent over at the drinking fountain. But his relief quickly turned to irritation when he realized that Logan took _forever_ getting a drink. And Carlos was eager to run off some energy in gym class.

"Lo-gan," he whined, shuffling over to the fountain. "You're not even thirsty."

Logan briefly looked up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Yes I am." He leaned back down and continued to drink.

"Dude, no you're not. You're just getting a drink because you know I hate waiting and -" Carlos stopped. "And it's dodge ball day today!" He gasped and grabbed hold of Logan's arm, forcibly tugging him away from the fountain. "Yay! I love dodge ball! Let's go, let's go!"

Logan laughed as Carlos dragged him all the way down the hall. Carlos didn't see what was so funny, really. He did his best to ignore Logan's giggling as he shoved his friend into the locker room.

Carlos hopped up to his locker feeling happy, happy, happy. It had been a pretty good day. Firstly, they were going to play dodge ball in gym class. Secondly, it was corndog day at lunch, and corndogs were his favorite food in the entire world. Thirdly, Logan had been all smiling and cheery at lunchtime, which probably meant he wasn't afraid of Taylor anymore and everything was getting better. Which was fantastic.

The only bad thing that had happened in the past twenty four hours was Mr. Garcia having to go to sensitivity training again. When Carlos's father had brought him home after the confrontation with Mr. Greene and Taylor, Mr. Garcia got a phone call from his boss. Apparently Mr. Greene had called the station where Mr. Garcia worked and complained or something, so Mr. Garcia had to learn to be 'less aggressive' before he could continue to be an officer.

Carlos speedily removed his street clothes and exchanged them for his gym clothes, not forgetting to slap on a helmet. He closed his locker door, then paused when he remembered Logan. Carlos whipped around, where Logan was just slipping on a shirt.

It may have been too early to tell, but Carlos was fairly certain that Logan's bruises were a little less red. He smiled. "Logan, let's go!"

Logan yelped as Carlos seized hold of his arm yet again. "Hey, wait!" he cried, struggling to pull up his shorts.

Carlos barely heard him. When the two were out of the locker room, Carlos pressed forward to the gym, letting go of Logan's arm and sprinting to the large doors. He yanked them open and skipped in, ready to play.

* * *

Today's game of dodge ball was the most fun Carlos had had all week. He was on a team with Logan again, and the two ganged up on opponents and knocked them all out practically by themselves. Logan was hit once, and Carlos was concerned. But Logan showed no signs of pain at all. He picked himself up, told Carlos good luck, and shuffled over to the sidelines. Throughout the remainder of the game, Carlos sneaked glances over to his friend. Logan just stood cheering Carlos and the rest of the team on, not even rubbing his injuries or anything.

Carlos was the last one standing. He ended up winning the game.

He was disappointed when class had to end. When he made it to history, he flopped down into his desk and pulled out his crusty textbook. Usually, history was a boring class. Carlos didn't really see the point of learning about dead people. But today, he paid careful attention to his teacher's lecture and even took notes.

It was a great day. But as Carlos left the school building on his way to the bus, he remembered there was still one more trial to get through: walking home from the bus stop.

"My mom offered to pick me up today," Logan informed as the school bus began to move.

"And you told her no?" Kendall asked.

Logan nodded. "I don't want to be scared of Taylor anymore. And if Taylor sees me walking home, then she'll know that I'm not."

Carlos grinned. He liked that answer.

"What do you think is going to happen?" said James. "Think she'll be there?"

No one replied. The four boys sat in silence for a few moments. Carlos wondered if Taylor really would be waiting outside. She shouldn't be, because what girl would continue to try to mess with boys who covered her in Silly String and soup? And what girl would continue to hurt Logan after a police officer told her she would go to a juvenile detention center if she did?

Maybe a stupid girl would. And Taylor _was_ pretty stupid.

"Oh," Kendall suddenly said, reaching around in his backpack. "That reminds me. I made something in science class today." He opened up a yellow folder and removed a piece of notebook paper. He handed it back to Carlos, who accepted it.

"What is this?" Carlos said, squinting at Kendall's messy handwriting.

"Just read it," Kendall told him.

Carlos's eyes skimmed over the paper. They widened with delight.

_Kendall Knight, James Diamond, Carlos Garcia and Logan Mitchell hereby swear never to break a promise. The only exception to this rule being if the promise is causing someone to be hurt in any way, or something equally bad, in which case an adult must be notified._

Carlos laughed. It was perfect. At the bottom of the paper were four lines, one for each of them to sign their names. Kendall and James had already scribbled a signature.

Carlos looked up, and Kendall handed him a pen. He quickly scrawled out his name, oblivious to the broadness of the terms. Then he passed the pen and paper up to Logan, who also laughed before he signed it.

"Thanks, Kendall," Logan said. Kendall patted his back.

"Hey, I helped," James said. "I wrote the last part where it says 'or something equally bad.'"

Carlos squeezed James's shoulder. "That's the best part!" he assured.

"See, Carlos?" Kendall said. "Now there's only _one_ exception to the never break a promise rule. And since we all signed it, that means it's official."

Carlos nodded. He liked that reasoning.

As Kendall tucked the paper safely away, the bus came to a halt. The boys each exchanged glances, preparing to leave. Carlos had to admit he was a tiny bit nervous. What if he had this all wrong? What if Taylor was even more angry at them? What if she had ignored Mr. Garcia's threats?

He shuddered as he followed James, Logan and Kendall off the bus. It was such a beautiful day outside; the sun was shining bright, and a gentle breeze blew softly. Carlos immediately stepped closer to Logan as he peered down both ends of the sidewalk, searching for any sign of Taylor. He didn't see her.

"Let's go," said Kendall, starting forward.

Much like Monday, Kendall led the way, with Carlos and James sticking close to Logan's side. The boys walked cautiously, keeping a sharp eye out for anything suspicious.

Carlos could see Taylor's house standing in the near distance. Luckily, she wasn't anywhere in sight. Logan took a deep breath, and Carlos asked if he was okay. Logan said he was, and even offered a small smile to prove it.

Kendall came to an abrupt stop. Carlos nearly ran into his back, as he had been looking in the other direction.

James gasped and took hold of Logan's arm. Confused, Carlos followed his friends' eyes. His heart jumped to his throat.

Taylor sat on the front step of her house. She was dressed in her normal dark attire, hands resting in her lap, looking bored. She glared at the four.

Carlos gulped. He was too stunned to run away or straighten up for a confrontation. All he could do was stand there and stare with his mouth hanging open.

Taylor stood. Kendall held out his arms, moving in front of Carlos, Logan and James. Carlos could hear Logan breathe a little faster. The girl on the step continued to stare daggers at the boys on the sidewalk until, finally, she turned and wordlessly stepped into her house. The door closed.

Carlos prayed that it stayed shut, watching carefully for any sign of movement from the house. Everything was still.

Then, Logan started laughing. He laughed and laughed, holding his sides and hanging onto James's shoulder to keep himself steady. For some reason, that made James laugh, too. And soon Kendall was joining in . Carlos didn't understand what was so hilarious, but he laughed with them.

Still giggling, the friends continued down the sidewalk on their way to Logan's house. Carlos trailed behind, ceasing his laughter, unlike the other three. He stared at Logan's back as they kept on. Carlos pursed his lips, thinking.

Carlos never figured he knew too much about anything. After all, he had report cards that would agree with him. But over the past few days, he realized that he was the best at figuring out when his friends lied to him. He knew Logan wasn't telling the truth the moment Logan had opened his mouth after Carlos had inquired about the bruise on Logan's face.

He also knew that lying to friends was a very bad thing to do. Best friends were supposed to be honest with each other. They told each other everything, and they needed to protect each other.

Carlos rubbed the back of his neck, thinking. He had realized that seeing his friends upset was his least favorite thing in the world, next to Taylor and the name Paul. And he also deduced that crying was in fact pointless, and, like Kendall had told him, didn't help any situation. But, sometimes Carlos did it on accident, and he figured that was okay, because accidents happened. Just like it was an accident that Logan lied about Taylor, because he was under the misconception that he needed to keep that bit of information to himself. And Logan accidentally made the mistake of thinking his friends couldn't help him with his situation, and he had accidentally thought his parents would think he was weak.

Carlos wondered if Logan realized the same things Carlos had discovered over the week. Did Logan know that he could tell the guys anything? Did Logan know that he had nothing to be embarrassed about?

Carlos jogged forward with a slight bounce to his steps like always, and hopped right up to Logan. Catching the smaller boy by surprise, Carlos latched his arms around Logan's waist. Logan stopped walking and tottered to the side, nearly losing his balance. Carlos ignored it and kept holding on, grinning lopsidedly. "You're my best friend," he said, pressing his face to Logan's back.

Logan's shoulders quivered as he chuckled. He patted Carlos's arm. "You're mine, too."

Carlos pulled away, and Logan turned around to face him. They smiled at each other for a few moments, before Carlos realized Kendall and James were staring at them.

"Oh," Carlos said. "Don't worry, I love you guys too. We're just supposed to be focusing on Logan here."

"Uh… Thanks?" Kendall drawled.

Carlos nodded to both Kendall and James. He gave Logan a brotherly pat to the back, then, feeling an all too familiar sense of excitement, he began to run ahead. "Race you to Logan's house! Ready, set, go!"

He could hear footsteps hurry behind him. "Hey, that's not fair!" laughed James. "You got a head start!"

"Slowpoke!" Carlos called over his shoulder. He also was well aware that he was the fastest one of the group. Shrieking in laughter, the boys sprinted to Logan's house. Carlos reached the lawn first, flinging his backpack off his shoulders and sprawling out into the grass. "Winner!" he cried victoriously.

James was next, followed by Kendall, and then Logan. James fell down next to Carlos, breathing hard, and Kendall flopped beside James. Logan was the only one who remained standing. Though he had come in last place, he was smiling.

"Hey, guys," he said. Carlos lifted his head off the ground. "Thanks. For everything."

"Sure," said Kendall. "You know you can tell us if anyone is bothering you again, right?"

Carlos expectantly awaited an answer. He let his shoulders relax when Logan nodded his head.

"Good," Kendall said. "Because we're here anytime you need us."

Logan smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Promise?"

"Promise," Kendall confirmed.

"Promise," James agreed.

"Promise!" Carlos cried. He decided he liked promising things now. Besides, this promise would be easy to keep. Logan was one of Carlos's best friends, and Carlos was one of Logan's.

Carlos didn't know too much about anything, but he did know that best friends were there for each other, always. And there were no exceptions to that rule.

**THE END**


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